Rainbow Rays
by Pikminbosyk
Summary: A young Inkling goes to Inkopolis, excited to finally start turf war, but is it as easy as she thinks it is?
1. Prologue

**Yes, I know that I have 2 other stories that I'm writing but I felt really REALLY inspired to write a Splatoon story, so here it is! Any constructive criticism is appreciated, so please give me tips!**

**Please enjoy!**

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"...and another match and tournament win for the Color Cadets!" an announcer squid exclaimed on the TV, a young squid staring at the TV with complete awe, "Thank you all for tuning into the squid leagues! We hope you will join us again next year for another exciting tournament! Until next time, Stay Fresh!" the announcer mimicked the pose of the squid sisters before it going to a dull commercial. The young squid only inches away from the TV, having a huge smile on her face as she jumped up from the floor,

"Yeah! Another win!" She squealed, jumping up and down. Her hair was a light blue, with a large tentacle draped over the left side of her head with the back of the hair going from being longer on the left to shorter on the right. A much older male squid with dark green hair in a bowl cut walked in, giggling to himself,

"What'cha watching there, squiddo?" He chuckled, patting the younger one,

"The Color Cadets won again! They're so awesome, dad!" The father chuckled once more,

"I see, I see. You are a really big fan of them, aren't you?"

"Yeah! They're so awesome with the way they do the 'pew pew' and the 'BLAM!' and then the other team is all like, 'Oh noooooo we're gonna looooose augh!' it's awesome! I wanna be just like them when I can do turf wars, especially that roller! He's so good with the Carbon Deco!" Suddenly, the young girl was blinded when her dad pulled down her Squid Nordic beanie over her eyes, "Hey!"

The father only chuckled, "In 4 years you'll be old enough to move out and start turf wars, who knows, maybe you'll be a new recruit in their team in due time."

"Y-You really think I'll be good enough?" The young girl pulled her beanie up, looking at her father,

"Of course I do, Piki, you're an amazing little girl,"

"Dad! I'm not a little girl anymore! I'm almost 11!" She protested, only to be hugged by dad

"But you'll always be my little baby princess."

"Daaaaaad c'mooon! This is embarrassing!" She cried out, her face turning red. She was soon let go,

"Alright, but get to bed, it's getting late young lady,"

"Alright dad, love you!" She exclaimed, giving her father a kiss as she ran up to her room, still hyped from the win by her favorite turf war team, the Color Cadets.

**XxXxXxX 4 Years Later XxXxXxX**

Pikmin was asleep in her bed, her Squid Nordic hat over her eyes. A loud beeping sound was heard as she groaned, tightening her eyes, wanting to sleep more. Unfortunately for her, the beeping kept going, not letting up anytime soon,

"Ngh… alright, alright I'm uuuuup!" She groaned, sitting up in her bed, slamming her hand onto her digital alarm clock. She let out a large yawn, stretching before sleepily checking the time, "It's only 7am, why is my alarm going off? Normally it goes off at 9am on weekends. Eugh… whatever, I'm already up." She hesitantly got out of bed, taking a few steps before tripping over her guitar case, "Ow! Frickin…" She sighed, picking herself up. She started walking downstairs, still half-asleep. When she entered the kitchen, she heard a loud popping sound, causing her to squeak.

"SURPRISE!" Screamed 3 inklings. Piki's father, still sporting the dark green bowl cut, her mother with pink hair, tentacles tied in a bun, and her older brother with orange, shaved hair. Piki looked at her family, eyes wide and stunned.

"W-What?" She said, stunned,

"Happy Birthday, baby sis!" Her older brother said, patting her head,

"Hey! You're only 2 years older than me, Leo!" She protested, puffing out her cheeks,

"I know, but you're still my baby sister, always and forever." Their parent's chuckled,

"Now, now, Piki, doncha think it's time for gifts?" The mom presented a very large gift to Piki,

"A gift?" Piki hesitantly took it, ripping off the wrapping as she, before loudly screaming in joy, "A CARBON ROLLER?!" She examined it, only to find it was a Carbon Roller Deco, "This is amazing! Why... where, how?!"

"Your mother and I knew how much you wanted it, so we bought it for you." Dad explained, "We thought you'd love it, so here you go!"

"There's one more present from us, here." Mom handed her a box, it was rather small. Piki opened it to find it was clothes, "We bought you some gear we thought would help you. Red Hi-tops and a Chilly Mountain Coat. They didn't have any hoodies but we though you'd like it."

Piki put on the new clothes, fitting her perfectly as she smiled, "I love them! Thanks mom and dad!" She gave her parents a big hug.

"Hey, don't forget my gift!" Leo exclaimed, holding out another very large gift. Piki took hold of it, to find it was very soft. Once she opened it, however…

"A GUITAR?!" She looked at it stunned.

"Yup, I thought you'd really like it, since, you know, you're a musician and all. I hope you like i-" Leo was interrupted as her sister gave him a big hug.

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" Leo gave a soft smile and pat Piki.

"You're heading out tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, it'll be hard living alone but… I gotta grow up at some point, ya know?" Piki's mom and dad looked at her, somewhat upset.

"You sure you don't wanna stay longer?" Mom asked,

"It'd be best if I were to leave ASAP, but I'll make sure to call and text often!"

"You better, or I'll show up." Leo teased.

"Oh please, don't threaten me!" Piki joked, causing the family to laugh,

"C'mon, let's have some cake." Dad suggested, going to cut everyone a slice, Piki was excited to start her new life, first thing tomorrow morning.


	2. New Friend?

**So I got really into writing this, and I wanted to crank out another chapter, and I'm pretty proud of this one! I hope you all enjoy it, let me know whacha all think! Thank you!**

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Piki came out of her spawn point, dressed in her Chilly Mountain Coat, Red Hi-tops, and of course, her signature squid nordic, she wielded her Carbon Roller Deco, ready to get out there and start the Turf War. She'd only been in Inkopolis Square for about 2 weeks, but she's climbed the ranks of Turf War quickly, having gotten accustomed to her Carbon Roller, much like the player she so admired in Color Cadets, whom she still looked up to. She looked at her teammates for the match, before groaning, seeing that she had 2 snipers on her team and one shooter. "_Alright, I get that Moray Towers is in the rotation, but do we really need so many snipers?! I mean, c'mon guys! At least we have one shooter…_" She thought to herself. Once she heard a shot ring through the air, she flicked her roller, rolling off into the rest of the map. The map was Walleye Warehouse, only causing her to groan more at the realization that she would probably be the main painter. Moving towards the middle, she found her shooter teammate being ganged up by 3 of the members of the opposing team. She swam behind the enemy, before popping out of the ink and slamming her roller into the three enemies, splatting all of them instantly. She continued to ink.

Three minutes pass by, and a whistle blew, signalling that the match was over. After calculating, Mini Judd raised his flag, showing that the team Piki was fighting had won. With a sigh, she declined the offer to play another match, exiting out to the plaza. She went over to a nearby booth, getter herself an ice cream sitting down, "Man that match was terrible… freaking snippers and their… sniping ways with the chargers and the stuffs… what am I even saying right now?" She questioned herself as she took a lick of her ice cream.

"What's wrong with chargers?" A low sounding voice asked from behind her. She squeaked and fell backwards in her chair, causing a giggle to be heard from the low sounding voice. "You ok there?" A male inkling asked, walking up to her. He was wearing a sporty bobble hat, a Layered Vector LS and Red Hi-tops. His hair was dark blue and short, having a tentacle stick out from the right side of his face, the rest tied low behind his head.

Piki nodded shyly, standing up. She realized her ice cream was on the floor now, she sighed sadly. "W-Who are you?" She asked the male, nervous as she didn't really talk to anyone since moving.

"The name's Shane, and you would be?"

"Um… I-I'm uh… Piki." She tried to hide her face in her coat and hat, but to no avail,

"Nice to meet you, now, what's wrong with chargers?" Shane asked, raising an eyebrow,

"Th-They're just annoying, not to mention most of them c-can't hit their target and then they constantly p-pick you off if they can." She stated her opinion, very quietly.

"Well I'll have you know I happen to be a charger main." He grinned at the girl.

"S-So? M-My opinion still s-stands, I-I'm not gonna change my thinking j-just because you happen to main a charger." Shane was taken aback by what Piki said, and so bluntly too.

"I mean… good point, I guess. I assume you were on a team with a lot of chargers?" The blue-haired inkling sat across from Piki.

Piki nodded, "Y-Yeah… Walleye Warehouse with two chargers, a Splatterscope and Squiffer. The scope was really trying and actually did pretty well but the Squiffer did absolutely nothing the whole match, save for inking maybe like, 200 p worth of turf?" Shane shuddered at that, "Yeah, I know." Piki seemed a bit more comfortable.

"Well as much as I would like to continue this chat, I gotta go, see ya 'round maybe." He stood up and walked off, Piki sighing in relief, before jumping back at another voice,

"I REMEMBER YOU!" She heard a high-pitched female voice say. Piki looked over to see a rather small, pale inkling with pink hair draping at her sides, wearing a White Headband, Navy Striped LS and Red Hi-tops, running towards Piki, "You're the Carbon Roller, aren't you?!"

"U-Um… I mean I use a Carbon Roller and I just came out of a match…" She hesitantly stated, flustering,

"I know! You're the one that helped me! You know, when I almost splatted by those three people ganging up on me?" The young inkling excitedly stated,

"Oh yeah, come to think of it, I do remember you."

"I'm Tashiniko! What's your name?" She asked, taking a seat across from Piki,

"I'm Piki." Piki stated, sounding somewhat nervous as she wasn't that great around new people.

"Was that guy your friend? Ya know, the one with the beanie and blue hair?" Tashiniko tilted her head, curiously.

"Well, no. I don't have any friends here-"

"YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS?!" Tashiniko screamed, standing up.

"N-No because I'm really socially awkward and-"

"How can someone as awesome as you have no friends?! Wait, I have an easy solution!"

"An… easy solution?" Piki tilted her head, confused.

"I'll be your friend!" Piki's eyes grew wide, unsure if she could keep up with the hyper energetic inkling.

"Um… I-I mean…"

"Nope! No talking me out of it! From now on, we're great friends!" She insisted. "So, what're ya into?" Tashiniko inquired, getting a drink and sipping it. Piki started to blush a little,

"W-What?"

"Ya know, what are your interests?" She clarified, taking a sip of her drink,

"_Oh so that's what she meant._" She thought to herself, "Well um, I really like music, I even have a guitar at my house, I'm playing on getting a ukulele as well. I also really like the Color Cadets, you know, the really popular team."

"The Color Cadets are pretty cool! Their battles are really epic! You plan on joining them?"

"If that's what happens, then maybe. I'm not sure if I'd be good enough, though." She leaned back a bit in her chair,

"I think you have enough skill! You're amazing, and I'm sure the same is with your music!"

Piki started to blush, "Well um…"

"Oh heck! I gotta get going, I'll talk to you later, Piki!" Tashiniko shot out of her seat, snatching Piki's phone and putting in her own number, and putting Piki's number into her phone, running back, waving back at Piki.

Piki blinked, confused but sighed. "I should… probably get home before it gets too dark, plus I'm kind of hungry." She got up, slinging her Carbon Deco onto her back, walking back to her apartment to sleep.


	3. Color Cadets

**Le gasp, a 3rd chapter in 3 days? Am I rushing it, maybe but I've been on a huge writing craze lately. I'm sorry if this isn't as good as the other chapters, but if you have anything to say, please say it! Thank you for reading!**

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Piki sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes and slamming her hand down on her alarm clock. She slowly got out of bed, heading towards the kitchen in her apartment, making herself a cup of coffee. She let out a yawn as she took a sip, before hearing a knock at the door. Reluctantly, she went to the door and opened it, seeing Tashiniko waiting with a bright smile on her face.

"T-Tashiniko?" She sleepily started, "Why are you here so early? It's like… 7 or 8 in the morning."

"Yeah I get it but I have big, no not just big, GIGANTIC news!" Tashiniko exclaimed, jumping up a little bit.

"News? What news? Does Sheldon have a new weapon or something?" She took a sip of her coffee, "Here, come inside, do you want me to make you some coffee or breakfast or something?"

"Thank you, I'll take a coffee please!" Tashiniko stepped inside as Piki went to make herself and her friend coffee. "Anyways, I have news and I think you'll really wanna hear it!"

"What news?" Piki inquired, giving a cup of coffee with nothing in it to Tashiniko, offering milk and sugar just in case she wanted to add anything.

"You know the Color Cadets, yeah?" Tashiniko filled her cup a bit with milk and added sugar, stirring it,

"Yeah, what about them?" Tashiniko took out a flier from her pocket,

"They need a new member, specifically a roller!" Piki went wide eyed, "There are tryouts today, and I think you'll have a good chance of getting in!"

"What time? When are tryouts?" Piki chugged down her coffee,

"Around 12pm. Wanna hit up Turf War and get a bit of practice in before the tryouts?" Tashiniko sipped her coffee, excited for her friend to possibly join a team.

"Yeah lets get going!" Piki was about to run out of her apartment,

"Wait, Piki!"

"What? Thought you wanted to hit up Turf War?" Piki tilted her head, confused.

"Yeah but, don't you wanna change out of your PJs first?" Tashiniko chuckled as Piki realized she was still wearing her pajama onesie, starting to blush a bit as she went into her room to change into her battle gear, causing one more chuckle out of Tashiniko as she readied her Splattershot for battle.

**XxXxX 2 Hours Later XxXxX**

Piki and Tashiniko were doing Turf War for a long time, Piki wanting to get a lot of practice in before she headed to tryouts. Piki was getting a lot of splats, averaging around 7 or so per game, inking a fair bit of turf as well, ranging from 500 to upwards of 1000 points or turf. Tashiniko wasn't doing so bad herself, either, getting around 5 splats and inking about 700 to 1200 points of turf. After 2 hours, Piki and Tashiniko decided to finally call it for a little bit, getting a table to relax a bit before they have to go.

"You played really well back there, Piki!" Tashiniko complemented, "Keep that up during tryouts and you'll get into Color Cadets for sure!" Piki blushed a bit at Tashiniko's compliment.

"Thanks, Tashiniko," Piki sipped her chocolate shake as she started, "I'm not entirely sure if I'll be good enough to necessarily make it onto the team but, it'll be good to try at least." Tashiniko frowned,

"Aww c'mon! You can't think like that, Piki!" She pouted, "You gotta be like, 'I will make it on this team and go down in history!' or something like that!" Tashiniko exclaimed and jumped out of her seat very energetically, doing a super hero esc pose. Piki chuckled,

"We'll see what happens, Tashiniko. C'mon, let's get going, we don't wanna be late." Piki stood up as her and Tashiniko walked to where the flier they had said to meet.

The two of them went to the meeting place, where they saw 3 people, whom Piki recognized as three members of Color Cadets. There were quite a lot of other people there, too, all of which wanted the single spot that was available. Piki started to shake, looking around at her competition. Tashiniko noticed her friend shaking, and grabbed her hand to help her calm down.

"Don't fret, you'll do great, Piki!" She whispered. Piki blushed ever so slightly, her tannish skin turning a bit pink.

"Th-Thanks, Tashiniko. I just… you know heh." She nervously hid her face in her coat a bit. Before long, the three inkling stood up.

"Welcome, everyone!" The middle male said, having rather dark skin and yellow hair in a short, spiky mohawk. "I am Jacob, the leader of Color Cadets. Thank you all for showing up today!" Jacob wore 18k Aviators, a Birded Corduroy Jacket and Blue Moto Boots. Piki knew him as the dualie main of the team, as well as the leader. She looked at the other two members, one of them having a fully shaved head of orange hair and pale skin. He wore a Skull Bandana, Black Inky Rider and Pro Trail Boots. Piki recognized him as Mason, the Blaster main of the team. Finally, she looked at the other pale-ish inkling, Elijah, who had his hair in 3, large spikes colored a very navy blue. He wore an Octoking Facemask, a Kensa Coat, and like his other teammates, Blue Moto Boots. Piki knew him as the sniper of the team.

"As you are all aware, since you're here, we need a new roller main as our old one left. The way this will work is you will tell us what roller you main, after you tell us this information, we will have you battle. Once everyone has battled, we will make a decision." Mason explained, "Now, we will start calling names." One by one, people would get up and go to the desk and tell them their main. However, many of which are turned away immediately. Piki started to worry more as she tightly held Tashiniko's hand, nervous. Tashiniko pat Piki on the back to calm her down.

"Piki! Get over here!" A low, gruff voice yelled as Piki squeaked, standing up. Tashiniko gave her a thumbs up as she walked over. Jacob pushed his glasses down slightly, all three of them blinking in surprise. "So, you're Piki?" Elijah asked. Piki nodded,

"Um… yes, I-I'm a Carbon Roller Deco main." She gripped her arm tightly, nervous.

"Well, I see, you play Turf a lot?" Jacob asked.

"Y-Yeah, I do. I played for two hours straight before this, I wanted to be ready."

"Well, it paid off cause you're in!" Jacob exclaimed, getting a nod of approval from the other two teammates.

"W-What? Don't I need to battle first?" She asked, confused.

"Eh who cares, no one else has the potential you do." In the distance, Tashiniko looked at what was going on and squinted suspiciously. It seemed she noticed something that Piki didn't.

"I-I see, when's the first practice?"

"Does tomorrow at 8am work for you?"

Piki nodded, "Alright! I'll see you then!" She happily ran back to Tashiniko, "I got in!"

"Yeah, I saw. C'mon, Piki." Tashiniko stated bluntly as she walked away. Piki seemed a bit confused, but shrugged, walking away. They later found themselves back in Piki's apartment. Piki was cooking dinner for herself and Tashiniko.

"Hey, can I ask something real quick?" Piki asked.

"What's up?" Tashiniko looked up at Piki.

"Why did you seem like, upset when you heard I got accepted into Color Cadets?" Tashiniko grew silent for a little bit before replying,

"Didn't you notice it?"

"Notice what?"

"You were the only girl at tryouts. I feel like they picked you not for your roller potential, but for your… other potential." She made sure to emphasize the word other. It took Piki a moment before she understood, blushing a bit,

"I-I'm sure that's not true! Maybe they've seen me play before in Turf Wars!"

"That may be the case, but, just be weary, alright? I hope you're right, Piki." Tashiniko sighed, sipping her tea.

"I'm sure I am. Now c'mon, pizza's gonna be ready soon." Piki put on her oven mitts as she took the pizza out of the oven, Tashiniko sitting at the table. After they ate, Tashiniko left to go to her own home, Piki falling asleep, ready for her first practice in the morning.

**XxXxX The Next Day XxXx**

Piki got up bright and early, she didn't want to be late for her first day of practice. She got there before everyone else and sat at a table, waiting for the rest of the Color Cadets. They arrived soon after and they all greeted Piki.

"Alright, let's get into a Private Battle and get to practice." Jacob stated, "First off, Piki against everyone else." Piki went wide-eyed.

"I-Isn't that a bit unfair?" Piki asked, worried.

"Can it, Newbie!" Jacob screamed as Piki went tried to hide in her face in her coat, "You don't complain, you're the new recruit, got it?!"

"Y-Yes…" She quietly and shyly said, feeling like she was about to tear up. She suddenly jolted when she felt someone caress the tentacle hanging off the left side of her head,

"Good girl," Mason had been the one to caress, and he kept caressing it, making Piki move away.

"P-Please don't do that." She politely asked,

"Tch, whatever, c'mon guys, let's go." Jacob, Mason and Elijah had all gathered in the lobby, Piki following behind.

"_Maybe Tashiniko was right after all…_" She thought to herself, hesitantly walking in. The stage was set to Walleye Warehouse, Piki's favorite stage, so she thought she would have a chance. She was wrong. The three on the other team were relentless, splatting her almost the instant she left her base. When the match was finally over, Piki had been splatted almost 20 times in 3 minutes. She sighed as the other three walked up to her.

"You didn't even get one splat!" Elijah screamed at Piki,

"W-Well when y-you can't even leave y-your base-" She was interrupted when a hand had collided with her face. Stunned, she looked up to see Jacob, with an angry face.

"No excuses! Once again, Piki against everyone, and we will keep doing it until you get at least three splats!" Jacob screamed, starting the match before Piki could say anything. She was forced to suck it up and just keep going. A few hours passed when Piki finally got 3 splats, sighing that it would be over. Once they got to the lobby, however…

"Only 3 splats?!" Jacob screamed, causing Piki to squeak and tear up,

"Y-You said-" She was cut off again.

"Shut it! No excuses! We'll do the same thing tomorrow, for now, we disperse…" The three left, one of them tugging on Piki's hair, causing her to shout. She made a break for home. On her way there, she bumped into someone, falling down. She looked up and saw a familiar blue hair style. The inkling turned around, revealing himself to be Shane.

"Oh, hey Piki. Are… you ok?" He noticed the tears in Piki's eyes. "Did something happen?"

Piki shook her head and stood up, "I'm fine… just fine!" She tried to run away but Shane grabbed onto her arm firmly, but not enough to hurt her.

"Piki, what's the matter?" Piki sighed and cried more, Shane pulling her into a hug.

A while later, Shane and Piki were sat at a table, Piki having now calmed down. While they were sitting, Shane having gotten a milkshake and burger for Piki to help her, Tashiniko came by,

"Hey, Piki! How… ok what happened?" Tashiniko took a seat, noticing Shane.

"She was just about to tell me that." He clarified. "I don't think we've met, I'm Shane, and you are?"

"Tashiniko," She looked at the food and drink Piki had, looking back at Shane, "You buy that for her?"

"Yeah, she needed it. Now, what happened, Piki?"

Piki took some deep breaths before she spoke. She told them both about the practice and how the team was. Tashiniko had a look of disgust and surprise on her face, while Shane closed his eyes and nodded, listening.

"Piki that's horrible. I'm so sorry that happened…" Tashiniko comforted Piki, patting her on the shoulder.

"I think maybe I should quit…" Piki pondered, hanging her head down.

"Maybe stick with them for a little bit longer, maybe a few weeks before you decide to quit."

"Why should she? If they abuse her and make her feel this way-" Tashiniko was cut off,

"It's the first day, right, Piki?" Piki nodded and Shane continued, "If it's the first day, they may be a little stressed over having to teach someone the ropes. Not to mention you're relatively new to Turf Wars and Ranked, yes?" Piki, once again, nodded. "Stick with them a little longer, if it doesn't get any better, or it gets worse, then quit, alright?" Piki wiped her eyes, nodding again.

"Th-Thanks, you two." She sniffled a little bit,

"Anytime. Now c'mon, eat your milkshake before it gets cold." Piki and Tashiniko looked up at Shane, both of them snickering, "What?" Shane asked confused,

"Eat your milkshake before it gets cold?" Tashiniko chuckled,

"Yeah, what's- oh wait a minute- DAMMIT!" With that, Piki and Tashiniko started laughing as Piki began to eat her burger and enjoy her shake.

**XxXxX 2 Weeks Later XxXxX**

"C'mon, scrub! Pick up the pace!" Elijah screamed, clapping his hands as he and the other 2 boy teammates watched Piki run around in circles, "You only got another mile to go, c'mon you gonna let the other 4 tire you out?!"

Piki tried her best, but she had forgotten to eat that morning as she woke up late, so about a quarter way through her last mile, she collapsed onto her knees, holding her head in her hands. The three guys walked over to their teammate, "G-Guys… I can't run a-anymore…" She panted and coughed heavily, tears in her eyes as she was in pain. Mason went up and started to caress her face and hair, she was too tired to resist or do anything.

"Now, now, sweets, no need cry," Mason told her in what seemed to be a caring voice, yet it sounded condescending.

"D-Don't… call me… sweets… o-or do what you're doing!" She pushed Mason's hand away from her face, before he grabs her arm.

"Don't be like that, sweets. You know you can't resist me."

"Th-That's… it…" Piki stood up, stumbling, "I quit… I can't handle this stupid team." She tried to walk away, but Jacob grabber her hand,

"You're not leaving this team, Piki." Jacob firmly stated.

"L-Let me go… I'm done with this dumb team!" She tried to break away, but was slapped in the face by Jacob.

"Leave and see what happens." Just then, a punch came flying straight at Jacob from the back, hitting him in the back of the head. He turned around and let go of Piki, who was later grabbed again. "What the fuck?!"

"You leave her alone." The inkling who punched Jacob calmly stated. Piki's eyes grew wide as she realized it was Shane. Looking to her side, she realized she was being grabbed by Tashiniko. Tashiniko tugged on Piki's arm, signalling her to come with. Piki nodded and they began to run away from them. "Welp, looks like it's my time to go, bye-bye!" Shane super jumped away and when the Color Cadets turned around, they saw that Piki was gone.

Back in inkopolis, Piki was enjoying a very large meal, a burger, large fries and a milkshake she was eating quickly and smiling happily as Shane and Tashiniko smiled.

"So, what're you gonna do now that you left Color Cadets?" Shane asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't really have any plans, you know? A team would be great but, with that whole experience…" Piki trailed off,

"Well, you could always make your own team, you know." Tashiniko suggested.

"I mean, yeah sure but, who would actually join my team." Piki sighed, eating some fries.

"Well, you got two members here already, don't you?" Shane asked with a smile as Piki stared at him with confusion, looking at Tashiniko who was also smiling.

"R-Really? You… you would join my team?"

"Of course we would, that is, if you want us." Piki's smile grew wider as she looked determined,

"Whadya say we go find one more person guys?" Piki asked,

"Hell yeah!" Tashiniko exclaimed,

"Sounds like a plan." Shane nodded. The three of them continued the rest of their day, laughing and having fun, doing Turf Wars to pass the time. After hours upon hours, they all decided to go home and sleep as it was getting late. Piki went to bed smiling, happy she not only had teammates, but friends, as well.


	4. Birth Of The Team

**This is proof of two things, one, I have no control over me writing this, and two, I'm not as focused in school as I should be XD**

**I want to thank everyone who is regularly following this story and reading it! It truly means a lot. Like I've been saying, please give any constructive criticisms that you have, I am always looking to improve my writing so anything is helpful! Thank you and enjoy!**

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"We are NOT calling our team Paint Pals!" Tashiniko screamed at Shane, who was sitting with crossed arms,

"Oh yeah, like Splat Pats are any better." Shane rebutted. Piki was sitting on the couch, looking between the two bickering inklings. They were trying to figure out a name for their new team, they needed a name for their team if they wanted to enter the squid leagues, however, they also needed one more person to make their team an actual team.

"You two have been at this for hours." Piki had been silently coming up with names on the sidelines,

"Piki, have you even come up with any names?" Tashiniko asked, annoyed.

"As a matter of fact, I have indeed come up with a name, I think you'll like it." Piki grinned, confident in her name

"Alright then, let's hear it!" Tashiniko angrily replied,

"Rainbow Rays. Rainbow since we change colors when we battle, and rays because it's a sea creature, i believe. Plus, rainbows are light, thus are rays so, Rainbow Rays." Shane and Tashiniko blinked in shock at the name, Tashiniko even slightly blushed.

"I… like that name a lot!" Shane exclaimed, smiling.

"I agree! I say we use that!" Tashiniko jumped up rather happily

Piki nodded, "So we're the Rainbow Rays, then?" Piki asked, looking at her two teammates.

"Indeed we are. Now we need a logo…" Shane pondered, putting his hand on his chin, thinking

"I can draw us one!" Tashiniko exclaimed, "I have a drawing tablet and everything, and with your tech know-how, Shane, you can upload it!"

"It's literally a simple crop and click, a toddler can figure it out." Shane sighed, "Honestly how can you not figure it out? You draw on the computer, no?"

"S-So!? I don't explore the freaking motherboards of a computer!"

"Neither do I, Tashiniko, I just know how basic computer functions work."

Piki listened to the two bicker, chuckling as she heard a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" She exclaimed, opening the door to find an inkling there, whom she recognized but didn't know from where. He had purple hair with 3 large spikes in the front, wearing Retro Specs, an Octobowler shirt and Red Hi-Tops. Piki tilted her head, "Can I help you?"

"Hi, yes, are you Piki?" The male had asked

"That's correct, I am Piki. How do you know me?"

"I'm James," Piki's eyes widened as she now realized who she was talking to, James nodding, "I take it I look familiar to you?"

"You're the ex-roller of Color Cadets!" Piki exclaimed,

"Correct. I heard they got a new roller so… I wanted to see if they were ok. You're the new roller, yes?"

Piki shook her head, "Was, I was the new roller. I left them 2 weeks after I joined." James nodded,

"Good, and don't go back." He insisted.

"Trust me, I have no plans to. But, that begs the question… why did you leave?" Piki tilted her head curious, James chuckled.

"You know our mains, yeah?" James asked

"You were the roller, Jacob was the shooter and leader, Elijah the sniper and Mason the blaster, right?"

"Right, mind if I come in?"

"Oh please do!" Piki let the newcomer in, going to make him a cup of coffee. Once James was settled, he started explaining.

"Right, so about why I left…" James started, sipping his coffee. Piki and Shane listened carefully, while Tashiniko was in another room, starting on their teams logo, "So, as you know, each of us has a specialty weapon. Mine was rollers. For the first few years of our battles, we were at the top, never really losing."

"Yeah, I remember watching all your battles when I was younger." Piki chimed in, James chuckled

"Which I thank you for. Young fans like you were what kept me going. Around 2 years ago, people started to understand how we battled, so they started to know our every move, we sank to the bottom. After our loss, I started using various weapons on the side, so we were less predictable. The others… didn't agree with it, though. I suggested they start trying various other weapons, only to be met with screaming. I'm not sure what happened, though, they were always so nice and supportive. It was a more recent thing. Anyways, after about 2 years of their odd change in personality, I quit the team and left."

"Then they hosted tryouts for a new roller." Shane added,

"And that's when I joined them, their rage must've been at an all time high…" Piki hung her head as she spoke those words. James patted her on the shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Piki. They're just… angry over their losses if I had to guess. It's whatever. You're starting your own team, correct?"

Shane nodded, "We are indeed, we're the Rainbow Rays. We need one more member to be an official team, though. Once we get that last member, we need to establish a leader, then we'll enter the Squid Leagues." Shane put a determined look on his face, grinning. James put down his cup, grinning also.

"Well count me in, then." Piki and Shane's expressions turned to those of shock,

"W-Wait… you mean…?!" Piki stuttered.

"If you'd have me, I'd be more than glad to join you team." James grinned, looking determined.

"Well of course! You're in!" Piki exclaimed happily.

"Awesome, I can play a wide variety of weapons, just so you know. Whatever you need covered, I got it." Before long, they all heard a voice,

"I finished!" Tashiniko ran out, holding a tablet of sorts, showing the others something, "I finished the logo! What do you guys think?" It was a prism with a single light beam going in through the top, coming out from the bottom in a wide spectrum of colors. On top of the prism were magenta colored letters, RR, "I hope you like it, I can redo it-"

"No need! It's perfect!" Shane exclaimed, taking the tablet and uploading the picture as their team. "Now, we're a full fledged team! Rainbow Rays… let's get down to practice! We start now!" Shane made a pose as everyone giggled,

"And I think we have our team leader," James chuckled,

"I guess we do." Piki confirmed. The newly formed team, Rainbow Rays went down to Turf War for their first team practice. All of them were excited to start their new journey as a team, all of them ready to participate in the Squid Leagues!


	5. The Qualifiers

**Man it's been a while! 4 days of non-stop updates then a several week long hiatus. I'm terribly sorry, school for me is almost over so I have a lot of finals to take and regents and stuff to do so I've been a little stressed. Luckily, this story was a very good stress reliever! I hope you all enjoy it and leave any criticisms in the reviews below so I can constantly improve! Thank you for reading ^^**

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"Piki! Incoming from the left!" Shane shouted looking through the scope on his Splatterscope,

"Got it!" Piki ducked into the ink and splatted the inkling trying to splat her. "Boom! Take that!" Suddenly, Piki heard a shot and turned behind her, seeing a puddle of her own ink color.

"And you almost got splatted by someone from behind you." James swam next to Piki, using the Grim Range Blaster, "Be more cautious. Now split!" Piki and James swam in different directions. Tashiniko was near the middle of Ancho-V Games, inking turf with her Splattershot,

"I need help over here!" Tashiniko screamed into her headset, "I'm almost out of ink!"

"On it!" Piki swam over to the middle, seeing Tashinko holding off other inklings, "Shane, get the Dynamo, I got the Splatling!"

"Roger!" Shane responded, sniping the Dynamo roller as Piki swam behind the Heavy Splatling bringing down her roller onto them. Both the Dynamo and Splatling got splatted. "Everyone start inking, we have 30 seconds left, make them count!"

There was a unanimous "Right!" from the rest of the team as they went along inking as much turf as they could within 30 seconds. The match ended. The Rainbow Rays won with a 62.7% to 31.9%. The team rejoiced and they walked out of the lobby and into the plaza, where they would go to enjoy a nice meal.

"Excellent job today, guys! I think we'll be more than ready for the Squid Leagues tomorrow! Has everyone been practicing weapons other than their mains?" Shane asked the team,

"I've been getting better with Sloshers and Brushes. Brushes are rather easy as they're like rollers." Piki explained.

"I still need a bit of work with Dualies and Nozzles, but I'm getting better!" Tashiniko exclaimed.

"Good, as for me, I'm starting to get the hang of Splatlings, I'm leaning towards the minis, the heavies are pretty easy too, but the hydras are just too much for me." Shane took a bite out of the burger he was eating.

"Has anyone been trying for Brellas?" James asked, concerned. There was silence.

"I'll try Brellas." Piki stated bluntly,

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, they've always interested me, so it'd be fun!"

"If you say so, Piki. Then we'll leave the Brellas to you." Shane nodded.

"So, who are we fighting tomorrow?" Tashiniko inquired. Shane pulled up his squid phone and looked at the team they would be fighting.

"Alright, the team is called Squid Kids. Such an original name. Their team is… odd." Shane stated, looking confused

"Odd? Odd how?"

"The whole team consists of people with the same gear, White Headband, Basic Tee and Cream Basics. They all have basic weapons, Splat Roller, Splat Charger, Splattershot and Splat Dualies."

"I see their goal." James stated.

"Goal?" Piki tilted her head, confused.

"The gear they use and weapons they use. They give their opposition a false sense of their skill, only to be amazing on the battlefield. I like to call them 'False Noobs' personally." James took a sip of his tea.

"I see, well in that case, keep your guard up guys. If we can do that, we should be able to win. Let's go through the team…" He scrolled through the phone, checking each member. "So the leader is the Splattershot, Dan Hanamura. He's one of the main painters, but is pretty offensive all things considered. The Splat Dualie user is Yoshiru Yamada. Very offensive player, we should watch out for him. The Roller is Sophie Marine, she's both very offensive and very defensive, we need to watch out for her especially, splat her if you see her as she's the main painter. Finally the Charger, Opal Lapis. Very defensive, I'll deal with her mostly, but watch for her shots."

"What's their win record?" Piki asked as she had some of her burger.

"They don't have one recorded, they must be a new team like us."

"Do they have a rank recorded?" Tashiniko took a bite out of her salad.

Shane's eyes grew wide, "Yup… they're False Noobs alright…"

"... what's their rank?" James looked concerned.

"A+ with an S rank leader." Shane's eyes grew wide as everyone else was stunned.

"Heh, looks like we've got a challenge ahead of us. We'll fight our hardest and win this tournament!" James exclaimed, looking determined and posing in a hero esc way. The others sweatdropped,

"Let's get through the first battle at least, James." Piki stated in a defeated tone. They continued to eat their lunch and chat a while before they had the to leave for their match with Squid Kids.

At 6pm, all the teams that were going to play were getting ready. Teams such as the Pink Patrol, Strawberry Lemonade, and, of course, the Color Cadets. Piki gulped seeing the team she once looked up to, before she herself joined them. She started to shake, James quickly taking notice. He put his arm around Piki's shoulders, causing her to look up at him.

"Hey, hey, it's alright. They won't hurt you, especially not now that we're with you, Piki." James gave a soft smile. Piki blushed a little bit, smiling back. Tashiniko was by Shane and puffed out her cheeks as she was watching James and Piki interact. Shane chuckled and pat her on the head,

"Jealous?" Shane teased, causing Tashiniko to blush.

"J-Jealous?! No, I'm not jealous at all! What makes you think I'm jealous?!" Tashiniko screamed as Shane laughed. Her blush was still prevalent on her face.

"You know, if you like James, I may be able to-" Shane didn't finish his sentence before he grinned. "Or maybe, it's Piki you like?" Shane teased, Tashiniko only blushed more.

"Sh-Shut up!" She screamed at Shane once more, giving him a small punch. Shane only chuckled more.

"You're totally crushing on Piki, aren't you?"

"Um… y-yeah… Just a little bit heh heh" She nervously chuckled. "W-What of it?!"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Shane gave Tashiniko a wink, "But get ready cause we have a match soon." Tashiniko nodded, her blush finally starting to fade. The three original member of the Color Cadets, and one new member with dark blue spiky hair and dark skin walked up to them.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the runaway, Piki." Jacob snarled at Piki, "And I see you've added our ex-roller to your ranks, you must really wanna fail, huh?" Piki shot a glare at Jacob before rebutting,

"Shut it. I don't want to talk to you right now." Piki stated bluntly, "I'm not gonna deal with your guys' slandering right now." Shane and Tashiniko joined the two, standing by their teammates. James scoffed as Mason went up to Piki and started to rub the tentacle protruding from the left side of her head.

"C'mon, baby doll, don't be like that." Mason sweetly stated as Piki recoiled, slapping his hand away.

"Leave me alone. I'm not part of you damn team anymore. Just go." Piki glared at the other team, Jacob scoffing.

"Come on guys, let's go." The Color Cadets then walked away from the Rainbow Rays.

"Wow, what assholes." Shane stated bluntly,

"You're telling me." James pat Piki's shoulder, "Don't worry about them, we're gonna win anyway."

"Hopefully, let's beat Squid Kids first, though." The team nodded, going into the dressing room. Tashiniko's eyes widened as she walked in, noticing all the snacks they had available. She started salivating,

"Fooooooooood..." Tashiniko whispered under her breath. The rest of the team giggled as Piki went up and nommed on some cookies. Tashiniko started to pig out on all of the snacks, enjoying it immensely. "I can't remember the last time I had these cookiesh!" She stated with a mouth full of food.

"Don't eat too many, Tashiniko, you don't wanna feel sick or feel like you're about to puke while battling." James stated candidly.

"If you need to throw up, aim it at the enemy!" Shane suggested, causing everyone to give him a weird look, including Tashiniko, "What? It was just a suggestion." Piki rolled her eyes and bapped Shane on the head with her roller, still in its case. "Worth it!"

As The Rainbow Rays were conversing among each other, another team walked in all wearing the same gear. "Hey, over there." A voice from across the room shouted, grabbing the attention of Rainbow Rays. They saw the team Squid Kids walking over. "So you're Rainbow Rays, eh?" The yellow haired male asked.

"Yes, we are indeed. You are?" Shane asked politely.

The yellow haired inkling put his hair up in a ponytail before responding, "I'm Dan, the leader of Squid Kids. The blue haired one is Yoshiru, the green one is Sophie and the purple one is Opal." As he introduced his teammates, they all waved in respect.

"Pleased to meet you, the light blue inkling is Piki, the pink one is Tashiniko, and the purple one is-" Shane was cut off suddenly

"OHMIGOSH YOU'RE JAMES!" Opal screamed as she went up to him, eyes sparking.

"Um… yes, I am James." He replied sheepishly

"I'm a big fan of yours!"

"I can see that." James chuckled, patting Opal on the head, "I'm not in Color Cadets anymore, I'm sorry if that disappoints." Opal simply smiled,

"It's no issue! The rest of the Color Cadets seemed odd to me honestly. You were always my favorite!" James blushed a little at the compliment.

"Thank you, but we mustn't get too into this. We wanna play at our best during the battle, yes?"

"You say that but…" Yoshiru pointed over to Tashiniko and Sophie, both of whom were pigging out on cookies and chips. Both of the girls looked over.

"What? They're here for a reason, are they not?" Sophie asked, Tashiniko nodding in agreement. The others sweatdropped staring at them as they heard a voice.

"Goooood Evening every squid! Welcome to this year's Squid Leagues!" A feminine voice cried out. A T.V. in the room came down from the ceiling, giving anyone inside a good view of the action. On the screen appeared Pearl and Marina, the two members of the music group "Off The Hook." Upon their reveal on the screen, Piki let out a squeal,

"Off The Hook! I love their music!" Piki's eyes sparkled as she stared at her favorite music group. "Do you think I'll be able to meet them?"

"Piki, let's get through the battles first, yeah?" James put a hand on Piki's shoulder, causing her to blush ever so slightly.

"Erm.. r-right heh." Pearl and Marina continued speaking,

"Welcome to the 8th annual Squid Leagues!" Marina started, "We have many teams competing this year, but only one will reach the top!"

"Yo this league is gonna be off the charts, brah!" Pearl chimed in, "Here's how it's gonna work, ya'll! There are two brackets, the winner's bracket and the loser's bracket. If you win your match in the qualifiers, you will move to the winner's bracket, and if you lose, you're sent to the loser's bracket. The final match will consist of the best winning team and the best losing team, aka the top of each bracket! There will be a few games each day, each will only be one round with a random mode of battle."

"Now with those explanations out of the way, let's get on to the battles!" Marina exclaimed as there was a large cheer from the audience. Shane signaled his team over, they all huddled together.

"Alright, everyone ready?" Shane asked his team.

"100% ready!" Tashiniko exclaimed, stuffing her mouth with more snacks and her bag with some cookies, her team glaring at her, "Oh come on they're here for a reason! They may go stale if people don't eat em so I'm gonna give them a good home in my stomach!" James and Shane sighed as Piki chuckled.

"You are somethin' else, Tashiniko." Piki stated with slight sass in her voice, grinning as she put a hand on her hip, "But you know what, I like the way you think!" Piki then began to put cookies in her bag as well.

"Um… guys, the matches?" James interrupted

"Oh! Right! I'm ready to go!" Piki grabbed her roller from its case.

"Good, James, I assume you're ready as well?" Shane turned to his blaster partner,

"As I always am. This isn't my first pony show, ya know?" James replied smugly.

"Alright, let's win this thing!" Shane put his hand in a fist and grinned seriously at his team, who returned the grin. From the screen, Pearl and Marina started to speak again.

"We are first going to do the qualifiers, this will determine if you will be placed in the winners or losers bracket. If you lose in your respective bracket after this, then it's all over for your team. These will all be 3 minute turf wars!" Marina spoke enthusiastically, spinning a record on her record table. Once she did that, a large T.V. screen lowered in with all the battles.

"First up is Rainbow Rays against Squid Kids on Snapper Cannal" Pearl exclaimed. "You teams better make it to your spawns!"

"Well, I wish your team the best of luck, Shane." Dan stated as he extended his hand,

"Best of luck to you too." He shook his hand, grinning. The two teams made it to their respective spawns, Rainbow Rays being dark blue and Squid Kids being light pink.

"In the blue spawn point, a new up and coming team, give it up for the Rainbow Rays!" Marina screamed as the team popped out of their blue spawn point, the crowd cheering.

"And in the pink spawn point, another new team, give a big round of applause to Squid Kids!" Pearl exclaimed as Squid Kids popped up from their spawn point, the crowd cheering again.

3…

2…

1…

GO!

A shot was fired into the air as both teams leapt from their spawns, inking turf in their base.

"Alright! We need to split up! Piki, hook left, James, you and me go to the center and Tashiniko, go right, got it?" Shane commanded

"Right!" The team unanimously exclaimed into their headsets as they went to their designated positions. Shane perched himself on a high point and started to look through his scope,

"Piki! Roller behind you!" Shane shouted,

Piki looked over her shoulder to see a splat roller chasing her. She grinned. She ducked into her in and swam away, perching herself onto a wall. Sophie, the roller, soon passed her.

"Huh? Where'd she go?" She asked herself before she felt herself get splatted by Piki, who continued to ink and cover up any ink that Sophie had laid down.

"Roller down, I'm going central." Piki stated as she headed to the center of the map to see Shane running away from two squids, Dan and Yoshiru using the Splattershot and Splat Dualies respectively. Piki was rolling to them when she felt a shot and soon got splatted by Opal who had snipped her. "I'm out and Shane needs help!"

"I'm on it!" James cried out before going to Shane and splatting the two chasers.

"One minute left! Squid Kids is in the lead!" Marina exclaimed into her microphone as the crowd was going wild.

"We need to take control!" Shane shouted as a distant shot went off in his headset.

"Once I get my Splashdown I'll head to a concentrated area of enemy ink." Tashinko calmly stated as she was inking turf on her own accord.

"Sounds like a plan! We only have 45 seconds, move!" Tashiniko soon inked enough turf for her special, but as she was heading towards the middle, a shot went off near her.

"I'm being snipped!" She screamed as she hid in her ink to get away, "Shane! Snipe her!"

"Don't need to tell me twice." Shane took aim at Opal and splatted her before she could splat Tashiniko. Tashiniko went to the center and activated her Splashdown special, jumping high into the air before she slammed her fist down, causing a huge shockwave of ink, splatting Dan and Sophie who were also in the middle.

"3! 2! 1! Time out!" Pearl shouted as a whistle blew. The two teams were jumped back to their spawns as two cats tallied the scores, one big and fat one and a smaller one, looking very similar to the bigger one. After a few seconds, a blue flag was raised by the bigger cat.

"The winner of the first game is the Rainbow Rays!" The crowd cheered as the Rainbow Rays celebrated amongst themselves. They went back down into the dressing room.

"I must say, you all played fantastically today." Shane complimented his team with a grin, everyone smiling.

"You're an amazing leader, Shane, I must say." James pat Shane on the shoulder,

"A leader is only as good as their team." As the team was complimenting each other, Squid Kids walked in,

"Excellent game you guys! Shame we lost but hey, maybe we'll see each other in the final match!" Dan exclaimed extending a hand to Shane,

"Let's hope, we'll probably have to get through Color Cadets to be able to fight you guys though." Shane grasped Dan's hand and shook it.

"Well, let's cross that bridge when we get to it, as they say," Dan grinned, "I'll look forward to our rematch."

Shane nodded, "As will I." As they were talking, the Color Cadets walked up to Rainbow Rays, Mason focusing on Piki.

"Hello, sweetcheeks." He said in a condescending yet seductive tone, stroking Piki's tentacle hair as he normally did. "That was some battle, wouldn't you agree?"

"I told you last time to leave me alone." She swat Mason's hand away,

"Why are you being so defensive, darling?"

"Don't call me darling. I want nothing to do with you!" Mason took a hold of Piki's wrists, "Hey! Let me go!" Tashiniko went up to Piki and Mason, slapping Mason,

"You leave her alone! She wants nothing to do with you!" Tashiniko puffed out her cheeks.

"Tch, fine." Mason trugged away back to his team, who were about to go on. Piki sighed in relief and patted Tashiniko on the head,

"Thanks, Tashiniko." Piki gave her a genuine smile as Tashiniko blushed a bit. Shane and James were looking on from afar, smiling.

"5 bucks they get together?" Shane said with a smirk,

"You bet." James chuckled. After many matches, the qualifiers of the Squid Leagues were over. Unfortunately for Rainbow Rays, the Color Cadets made it into the winners bracket.

"Thank you all for coming out tonight! Remember…" Marina started,

"Don't get cooked, stay off the hook!" The two of them exclaimed simultaneously and posed, the crowd cheering once more.

"Hey, do you all wanna stay at my place?" James asked, "I'd treat all of you to some good food and drinks and such."

"Sounds good to me!" Shane exclaimed, the others nodding in all left the leagues to head to Jason's house where they played games and celebrated their victory. They all decided to sleep over at his house and they slept soundly and peacefully that night.


	6. Music Geeks

**So before the stories, there may be a bit of inconsistencies when it comes to the blushing of the inklings, but just, don't worry about it ya know?**

**I hope you all like the story and leave criticisms below! It's much appreciated!**

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"Hmm… maybe an A chord to… no that wouldn't work well with my voice… maybe a barre chord here? No… that'd be too difficult of a transition…" Piki mumbled to herself early in the morning. She was at James' house as she had slept over along with the rest of her team. All of them were asleep. She was fiddling with an electric guitar James had in his house that she had gotten permission to play. "Man writing music is harder than I thought it was going to be…" She sighed sadly as she looked at the paper she was writing on. She didn't have much to work with, just a single chord and a few lyrics, that's it. She started to play a few chords on the guitar, thinking of words in her head. After a while, Tashiniko walked into the room Piki was in, hearing her play.

"Good morning, Piki," Tashiniko yawned, "Do you always play guitar so early in the morning?"

"Yeah, I generally do when I'm at home and James said I could use it so I thought I would." Piki gave a sad smile, "I'm trying to write a song but it isn't working so well…"

"Well, how much do you have?"

"I don't have a lot. I have one chord down and a few words but that's it,"

Tashiniko pulled up a chair and sat down, "Well?"

"Well? Well what?" Piki tilted her head confused,

"Let me hear what you have," Tashiniko grinned at Piki, who promptly blushed.

"I-It's really not much…"

"I wanna hear it anyway! I've never heard you play guitar or sing before so now's the perfect time don'cha think?"

"Um… alright then heh, I'm… not the best just so you know," Piki started to play and sing, she didn't do much as she didn't have a lot to work with. When she stopped she looked at Tashiniko, who was smiling.

"Play more!" She exclaimed happily,

"I don't have any more-" Piki was promptly cut off.

"Doesn't matter what the song is, play it!" Tashiniko's face glowed with excitement. With a gulp, Piki started to play a slow melody, singing along in her soothing voice. It was unclear if she was soprano or alto, her voice could hit all the notes no matter how high or low they were in the female range. Tashiniko blushed, hearing her singing and guitar playing. "_Her voice is beautiful…_" Tashiniko thought to herself as she listened along. After a few minutes, Piki concluded the song with an ending chord. Tashiniko clapped her hands together, the blush on her face was still prevalent, "That was beautiful, Piki!"

Piki put a hand behind her head, "Heh heh, thanks, Tashiniko," Piki sheepishly replied, noticing Tashiniko's blush, "Hey uh, you alright there?"

"Yeah I'm fine, why?" Tashiniko tilted her head confused,

"Your face is rather pink right now," Piki chuckled a bit,

"U-Um, d-don't worry about it!" Piki laughed a bit more as Shane and James walked in soon after,

"Good morning you two," James said in his usual serious tone, "You having fun playing the guitar, Piki? How do you like it?"

"I love it! It sounds really great and the neck feels really good. It is rather heavy but that's just because it's an electric, ya know?" Piki's eyes sparkled a bit as she talked about the guitar,

James chuckled, "Well, I may be willing to part with it… for a price, of course." James grinned a bit,

"R-Really?! B-But… it's yours and you probably paid a lot for it… I don't have a lot, plus I don't have an amp…" Piki sighed a bit and looked down as James chuckled again,

"You think I'm not gonna throw in the amp as well?"

Piki's head shot up as she looked at James, "B-But-"

"No buts, I'll give it to you for free, alright?" Piki tried to refuse before James shook his head, "No refusing, just take it." Tashiniko puffed out her cheeks a bit, jealous.

"I-I don't know what to say…"

"There's these two magic words called 'thank' and 'you'." Shane teased. Piki shot him a glare before turning to James,

"Th-Thank you so much!" Her eyes lit up, Tashiniko smiled as she left the room to get some breakfast. Shane and James nodded at each other,

"You stay here and get used to the guitar, if you'd like, I have many other instruments for you to play, help yourself," James smiled sweetly as him and Shane walked out, leaving a blushie, beaming Piki by her lonesome. Shane and James walked up to Tashiniko, who was just sitting in the living room.

"Oh hey guys, what'cha up to?" Tashiniko tilted her head quizzically,

"You like her, don't you, Tashiniko?" Shane asked, grinning. Tashiniko blushed heavily,

"W-What?!" Tashiniko's face grew a bright shade of pink as Shane and James chuckled.

"We won't tell her, don't worry," James winked, "I do see why you like her though, Tashiniko."

"Don't you dare try to steal her!" Tashiniko puffed out her cheeks as James laughed,

"Relax, I don't like her that way." Tashiniko sighed in relief as James pat her. After a while, they heard a complex guitar riff coming from the room where they had left Piki, "Oh, she must be listening to a recording or something." The three walk back into the room and see Piki playing the guitar expertly, much to everyone's surprise. She soon stopped playing with a power chord and panted heavily,

"Damn, this guitar is amazing!" She said to herself. She turned around and when she did, her face became bright blue as she blushed. "H-How um… long have you um… been watching me?" Tashiniko's eyes widened when she heard Piki play, her face going more pink than before,

"Oh, we just walked in about a minute ago," James grinned, causing Piki to blush more.

"I-I see… w-was it good at least?"

"It was awesome, Piki!" Tashiniko exclaimed, hugging Piki, "You're amazing!" Piki smiled and patted Tashiniko on the head,

"Thanks, Tashiniko." Piki giggled a bit.

"Oh, I heard there was a music studio in the plaza, we should head over there and record some stuff maybe, you should at least at some point, Piki." James stated as Piki's face glowed with excitement,

"I wanna play in a band! That'd be fun to do!"

"Why not try and join one then, Piki?" Shane suggested,

"I don't know if I'd be any good…"

"Well, head down to the music studio, rent out the recording place and see where that gets you?"

"Yeah, I may as well, right?"

"Indeed. Now, let's all eat breakfast. I'll make us some pancakes." James went out to his kitchen and they all enjoyed a pancake breakfast. After everyone left, Piki headed straight to the plaza to check out the music studio she'd heard about. She had taken her acoustic guitar with her as well, not having an electric one yet. She was going to get James', but he wanted to send it in to check to make sure everything was alright with it. Taking a deep breath, she entered the music studio. As soon as she walked in, here eyes sparkled in awe at what she was seeing. The walls were filled with guitars and basses, she also saw several woodwind and brass instruments on another wall, and then violins, violas and ukuleles on another. She took in all the sights that were there, her eyes continuing to sparkle.

Piki heard a chuckle from a side of the room, she turned to the voice. "It's like heaven, huh?" Behind the counter sat a sweet looking, younger octoling with yellow tentacle hair. Piki's eyes grew wide a bit when she noticed her.

"You're… an octoling?" Piki asked, walking up to the counter.

"Yes I am! The name's Aria, pleasure to meet you!" The octoling extended a hand,

"I'm Piki, likewise," Piki shook Aria's hand, "You work here I take it?"

"Correct! I see you've brought your guitar, would you mind if I were to take a look at it?"

"Oh uh, yes, of course!" Piki took her guitar off her back, handing it to the octoling, who promptly took it out of the case.

"Wow, you take good care of your guitar, don'cha?"

"Yes I do. I clean it, make sure the humidity doesn't get all weird with it and change the strings every 3 to 4 months."

"What strings do you use?" Aria strummed the guitar a bit as she listened to Piki,

"Just some cheap, off-brand strings, nothing special."

"Have you tried Squi'darrio strings?"

Piki shook her head, "No, I would like to, but I don't really have the money, ya know?"

"Tell ya what, I'll give you free strings if you play me a song. It doesn't need to be on this guitar, it can be on any one of them." Aria grinned as Piki blushed blue,

"Um… A-Alright I guess."

"Cool! Pick a guitar and play for me!" Piki looked around at the guitars, but spotted one specific one that she really liked. It was a pretty blue one with a satin finish. The design looked like the ocean, or lightning bolts, and the fret markers on the fingerboard were hearts. Around the sound hole was a design of several music notes, ending with a bass clef and treble clef arranged in such a way where it formed a heart of sorts. Piki's eyes were glued to it as Aria giggled, "I take it you really like that one?"

"Pretty." Piki muttered. She reached a hand out to it before pulling it back to her side as she looked at other guitars,

"Ya do know that the guitars are there for you to play, right? If you wanna play that one, pick it up and play it!"

Piki looked back at the guitar, taking it off the wall and putting the strap on around herself. Aria came from behind to counter to take a seat and listen to Piki play, handing a stool over to Piki so she could sit comfortably. Once Piki sat down and tuned, she strummed a chord. Once she strummed, her eyes widened. The sound projected beautifully, there was no fret buzz or anything, just the beautiful tone of the guitar. She ran her fingers down each side of the neck, nothing pointy sticking out of it, perfectly smooth. "It's… beautiful…" She muttered to herself,

"Indeed it is, one of my favorites, actually. Well, go on, play me something." Aria smiled sweetly as Piki formed the first chord. She started to play a pretty upbeat melody, smiling along. She soon got to singing, her melodious voice ringing through the shop. No one else was there except her and Aria, but with her eyes closed and her being lost in the music, Piki forgot about Aria for a moment. She sang with all her heart and passion.

Piki was lost in the music. To her, the spotlight was shining down on her. This was her moment to shine, to show what she could do.

Aria grinned, going and grabbing a bass, starting to play the bassline to Piki's melody. This took Piki by surprise, but to her, it was all part of the music. The two of them continued to play, before Piki played the final chord, adding vibrato to her tone. She panted, smiling widely. She finally looked at Aria who was holding the bass, grinning. "You aren't half bad at that guitar, Piki."

Piki's face grew light blue as she blushed, "Eh heh, well you aren't too bad on your bass either, Aria." Piki returned Aria's grin with a sweet smile,

"Yeah well, could be better. Anyways, a deal's a deal! I'll go put on those strings for ya now!" Aria put the bass back and went behind the counter. Piki still held the guitar as she examined it. She noticed that the guitar was an acoustic-electric guitar, which Piki really loved. She then checked the price tag of the guitar, it was really expensive at around 60,000 g, too expensive for her to afford. She gave a dejected sigh as Aria came back with Piki's guitar. "Here you go, Piki!"

Piki grabbed her guitar, "Thank you, Aria." She smiled sadly, something Aria seemed to be an expert at picking up on.

"Now what's got ya so down there? I changed your strings and everything."

"I know! I'm grateful for that, don't get me wrong, it's just… the guitar I played is so damn expensive and I really want it. I probably won't be able to afford it for a really long time." She sighed but smiled, "Thank you again for the strings though!"

Aria chuckled, "Not a problem! Now, why don't you hang around a bit? Business is slow and I'm dying for a bit of company. Why don't we do another jam session?"

Piki smiled, "Sure thing! Mind if I uh… play the guitar and amp it this time?" Piki gave a nervous laugh as Aria laughed as well,

"Well that's why it's there, silly!"

Piki smiled as she put the guitar on the amplifier, strumming as Aria picked up her bass. The two of them played for a while. When they finished a song, another squid walked in. The squid had rather long green hair. Aria smiled, greeting the inkling,

"Hello! Welcome to the Music Sanctuary! We were just doing a jam session."

"I heard, you two sounded really good!" The inkling exclaimed happily.

"Thanks! The name's Aria and this is Piki, what's your name?"

"I'm Alexander, but you can just call me Alex." He smiled.

"Pleased to meet ya! What can I do for ya?"

Alex looked around, "I'm looking for a new drum set. My old one kinda… broke apart, I think I played too hard on it heh heh." He nervously put a hand behind his head.

"Well we got some in the back, follow me and I'll let you choose one. Piki, you're welcome to come as well." Aria smiled sweetly at Piki. The three of them went to the back room where they had drum kits. Piki realized she had taken the guitar with her, blushing as she did. Aria looked over and Piki and chuckled, she had brought the bass with her. Alex looked around at the drum kits.

"Hmm… this one looks cool!" Alex walked over to a red drum set, sitting in the chair. He took out his drum sticks, looking at Aria for approval. Aria nodded, and Alex began to bang away on the drums. Piki and Aria smiled as he finished with a crash cymbal. Alex smiled, "How much is this one?"

"It's about 50,000 g, can you afford that?" Aria asked,

"Indeed I can! It's not as expensive as my last one and is a better quality one." Alex took out his wallet and gave Aria the 50,000 g for the drums. He then looked over a Piki, noticing the guitar, "You gonna buy that, Piki?"

"Huh? Oh uh… no but, I would absolutely love to buy it. It's really pretty looking and sounds amazing, the projection is phenomenal and it sounds so crisp and clean, and that's not even getting up to the neck feel, design, fret buzz or anything!" Piki's eyes sparkled as she was listing off everything she loved about the guitar. Alex and Aria giggled at the sight. She soon realized she was rambling and blushed a little, "I uh, should get going, thank you so much for the new strings,

"Not a problem at all! Don't go trying to steal that guitar now," Aria joked as Piki giggled, giving her the guitar. She waved at the two and left the shop with her guitar. What she didn't notice, however, was that James was walking to the music store. He smiled and walked into the shop, noticing Aria in the back.

"Hey, Aria!" James exclaimed loudly at the octoling,

Aria came out from behind, "Oh hey, James!"

"I saw Piki just walk out, did she buy anything?" James inquired as Aria was holding the guitar Piki had played,

"No, but she did really fall in love with this guitar." She handed the guitar over to James, who examined it. He looked at the price tag and smiled.

"Alright then," He grinned, looking at Aria.

**XxXxX The Next Day XxXxX**

Piki woke up to a knock at her door. She reluctantly got out of bed and walked to the door, opening it while still in her pajamas. In the doorway was Tashiniko, holding a guitar case. She had a smile on her face and was jumping up and down in place slightly,

"Tashiniko…? Why are you here so early?" Piki asked, yawning.

"I um… wanted to give you a gift!" She thrust the guitar case into Piki's hands,

"Unf!" She recoiled a bit as she held the guitar case. When she looked back up, she noticed Tashiniko was gone. Confused, she shrugged and walked inside of her apartment and opened the guitar case. Upon opening it, her eyes widened and sparkled. She smiled looking at its contents. "Oh Tashiniko… how sweet of you." She took out the ocean blue, electric-acoustic guitar, smiling and beginning to play.

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**So the guitar I just made up is now my dream guitar XD**


	7. Birth Of The Band

**Wooooo another chapter! As always if you liked this chapter I would appreciate if you would leave comments on how I can improve, it would help me greatly, thank you for reading ^^**

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Piki was playing her new guitar. She didn't have it connected to an amp as she didn't have one. She played a little bit and after about an hour, figured she would buy one herself. Before she left, however, she got a call on her phone. Checking it, she saw that it was her mom. She smiled and picked up the phone,

"Hello?" Piki asked as she made herself some coffee,

"Hello, sweetie!" A familiar female voice answered back as Piki smiled,

"Hey mom! How's everything going?"

"Everything's going alright over here, how's life in inkopolis?"

"Everything's great over here! I made some new friends and even have a team!" Piki sipped her coffee as she spoke to her mom,

"That's amazing to hear! Did you join the Color Cadets?"

Piki froze in place a little bit before firmly stating, "Never. Mention. That team. Again."

"Wh-What? Did something happen? Did they not accept you?" The mother sounded worried,

"Oh no, they did."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Oh nothing, only the fact that they abused me for 2 hellish weeks physically, mentally, emotionally and borderline sexually."

Suddenly, a male voice was heard, "Ok who am I drop-kicking and or murdering,"

Piki chuckled, "Hello, Leo."

"Piki who's getting murdered?"

"Leo it's fine, it's all taken care of. Shane punched him in the back of the head."

"Shane? Who's Shane?" Leo asked, his tone becoming less aggressive,

"He's my friend and leader of my team. Along with him it's my friend Tashiniko and ex-roller of Color Cadets, James. Together we're the Rainbow Rays."

"Well I'm glad you found a team! Now the real question… any crushes Piki?" Leo teased as Piki blushed light blue,

"Um… no, not yet heh." Piki nervously laughed as Leo chuckled,

"Yeah, whatever you say, baby sis,"

"I'm only 2 years younger than you!"

"Now now, kids, relax and don't argue," Mom stepped in,

"Whatever you say, mom," Leo chuckled again, "How's the guitar?"

"Oh it's really good! I just got new strings! Oh, and Tashiniko bought me a really expensive guitar! It's an acoustic electric one, I'll send you a picture later. I was going to head down to the music store to buy an amp, and then maybe start a band or something,"

"Alright, well don't let us keep you. I'll tell your dad you said hi." Mom stated somewhat sadly,

"Alright, thanks mom! Love you bye!"

Piki's mom and Leo both exclaimed bye before Piki hung up her phone, slinging her new guitar on her back after putting it in a gig bag and walking out to the music store. "_I wonder if Aria is working today?_" Piki thought to herself as she walked to the music store. Upon arriving, she tried to open the door but found it to be locked, "Dammit right, it's Sunday," She gave a dejected sigh as she heard footsteps running from behind her. When she turned around, she noticed a familiar yellow hairstyle running towards her.

"Piki!" The octoling exclaimed. It was Aria. She frantically waved at Piki as she ran to her, Piki waving back,

"Hey, Aria! How's it going?"

"It's going great! You need something from the music store?"

"Oh I was just going to get an amp, but it's closed so can't really do anything about that."

"I can open it for you, ya know? I do own the shop after all." Aria giggled as she went to unlock the door as Piki's eyes widened.

"I see… so that's why you restrung my guitar for free?"

"Indeed it is! And also because Squi'darrio strings are amazing and everyone should experience them."

Piki chuckled at that, "Well alright then." She walked into the store once it was unlocked, looking at the amps. "Hmm… how to tell…"

"You got the guitar with you, yeah?"

"Mhm, I do."

"Then take it out and amp it up! Then pick which sound you like the best!"

"Right, that'd be the smart way to do it." Piki chuckled nervously and Aria went to the amps,

"What's your price range?"

"I'd say between like, 10,000 to 30,000 g, anything else is kinda ridiculous in my opinion."

"I feel you on that one, but the store's gotta make a profit, ya know? Plus the sound quality of the amps past like, 50,000 g are amazing ya know?"

"Yeah, yeah I do. Hey, you wouldn't happen to have any job openings, would you? I'd love to be surrounded by all these instruments if I'm being honest."

"Yeah there's some spots open, but we'll get to that some other time." Aria had taken out 5 amps, all within the price range Piki had mentioned, "There ya go! Try each one out and pick one!" Piki nodded and started to try each amp, playing a few chords and starting a song, then moving to the next amp. After she tried all of them, she picked the one that fell in between.

"The sound quality is really good for the price, and it isn't too expensive. I'll take this one!"

"Alrighty then! That'll be… 17,800 g."

Piki took out her wallet and gave the money to Aria, "Here ya go!"

"Thank you very much! Now, why don't we head out and hang for a while! I wanna meet your team!"

"My team?" Piki tilted her head confused,

"Yeah! You know, Rainbow Rays!" Aria smiles sweetly at Piki, who blushed in turn,

"You… know about Rainbow Rays?"

"Of course I do! Everyone around the plaza has been talking about you, ya know? They're all really impressed with your win against Squid Kids!"

"I-I see, well um… where do you wanna go?"

"Why don't we head to your place? If not then my place is fine, I just wanna have a bit of a jam session with you, ya know?"

"Let's head to your place, it's more convenient than going to your place then mine, ya know?"

"Good point! C'mon, let's go!" Aria grabbed Piki's hand and ran to her house. Piki tried her best to keep up with the octoling. After a lot of running, they finally made it to Aria's house. Piki was panting heavily, not being used to running that fast for so long.

"D-Damn… W-Why so fast…?" Piki coughed as Aria nervously laughed,

"Erm… sorry, I got kinda excited. You're really great at guitar and I wanted to play with you again. Here, come on in!" Aria opened her door and walked in, inviting Piki inside. It was a rather large home, and there was a room dedicated to instruments. Piki seemed really surprised at just how much Aria had in her home.

"Wow… you sure have a lot of expensive looking things, Aria."

"Well, when you own a music store and are the sole worker, you tend to get a lot of money. Also doing turf wars and ranked matches tends to help as well." Aria chuckled to herself,

"Ah, right. I forgot you owned the shop," Piki chuckled,

"Well you did just learn that I did today." Aria went to her kitchen, "Want anything to drink?"

"Do you have any juice? I want something ice cold to drink right now if I'm being honest."

"I should. If not is tea ok?"

"I'm more of a coffee squid, personally."

"Coffee it is then!" Aria made coffee for herself and Piki. The two of them geeked out over their favorite music and favorite songs. They got to talking about Off The Hook, which was Piki's favorite group, despite them being only 2 people.

"I'm just saying their music was influential!" Piki laughed a bit as she sipped her coffee,

"I'm not arguing with you there, I'm just saying they're not as influential as you're claiming. The Squid Sisters had a much greater impact on the music industry." Aria chuckled as she took a drink,

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Aria." Piki chuckled a bit. Soon, there was a knock at Aria's door. "Aria! Your door!"

"I heard it!" Aria opened her door to see Alex standing there, "Oh hey Alex!"

Piki looked over at Alex, waving slightly, "H-Hey Alex!"

"Hello Aria, Piki. I came because you called me?"

"Mhm! I wanted to have a Jam session!" Aria's face beamed,

"A jam session, eh? I'm down, what about you, Piki?"

"Um… s-sure I guess!" Piki was a little nervous, she didn't know Alex well and would have to sing in front of him now. She sucked it up, though, going into the music room with Aria and Alex. Alex's eyes widened when he saw the drums.

"Whoa…" Alex's eyes sparkled,

"Don't be shy, try them out!" Aria smiled at Alex, who wasn't even there anymore when Aria and Piki looked to where he was. He was sitting at the drum kit, taking out his drum sticks,

"You always carry your drum sticks?" Piki asked curiously,

"Yes I do, and I see you always carry your guitar picks, aye?" Alex chuckled. Piki was confused until she looked down. She had been wearing a necklace with a guitar pick holder, which was holding several guitar picks. She blushed a bit,

"Th-That's besides the point! It's a necklace!" She puffed out her cheeks as Alex and Aria laughed. After clicking his sticks together, he started to bang away on the drums. Aria and Piki smiled at him, watching him play. Alex eventually stopped playing and panted from it.

"These drums are awesome, Aria! Where'd you buy 'em?!" Alex's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"I got them from the music store! I do own it, after all. I take these instruments to test the quality, and if I really like it, I keep it! Perks of being the owner of the music store!" Aria exclaimed excitedly as Alex's eyes widened.

"You own the music store?!"

Aria chuckled, "Mhm! I am the proud owner of The Music Sanctuary!"

"Holy carp I didn't know that!"

"Don't worry, I just found this out today, Alex." Piki chuckled a bit,

"Anyways, wanna get to playing?" Aria picked up her bass guitar and amped it up, tuning it. Piki nodded, plugging her guitar into an amp and tuning it. Aria noticed how Piki was tuning, "Hey, where's your tuner?"

"Hmm? Oh, I just tune it by ear."

"You have perfect pitch!?" Aria's eyes widened,

"Um… I guess?"

"Man, you must have some talent there, Piki." Alex grinned a bit, causing Piki to blush,

"I-It's not that big of a deal, let's just get to playing." Aria and Alex chuckled. The three of them started playing songs together. Piki took the singer role for most of the songs. The three of them had amazing synergy with each other, playing in perfect sync save for a few off beats and missed cues. After about an hour or two of playing, they decided to take a break.

"Damn, Alex! You really are amazing at those drums!" Aria exclaimed,

"Well I have been playing for a long time, I think maybe 10 or so years? I'm not sure, all I know is that I started when I was really young. I mostly play alone, so it's fantastic that I get to play with other people." Alex smiled as Aria and Piki, the latter of which seeming to be rather deep in thought, "Piki?"

"Huh, oh uh, yeah sorry heh. I was just thinking about something, ignore me."

"What is it you were thinking about, darlin'?" Aria tilted her head at the blue haired inkling,

"Well… I've been wanting to start a band recently, and I noticed how we all played really well all together so… I was thinking-" Piki was suddenly cut off by Aria,

"Hell yeah I'll be in your band! What about you, Alex?"

"A band seems like a lot of fun, why don't we start one, Piki?" Alex grinned at Piki, who was blushing blue and smiling,

"A-Alright then! Let's get to work, you guys!" Piki exclaimed happily,

"I nominate Piki as lead singer!" Aria raised her hand and shouted,

"Wait what?!" Piki's blush only worsened,

"I second that." Alex smiled and nodded,

"W-What hey w-wait-" Piki was cut off again,

"Enough chit-chat, let's get to practice!" Aria exclaimed happily as Piki was just standing there, holding her guitar with a light blue face. They played well into the night, before stopping at almost midnight. Piki said goodbye to Aria and started to walk back to her house with her guitar,

"Aria is so eccentric, but… she's really cute," Piki smiled as she blushed, hopping on the train back to her apartment building. On the train, she played a little bit of her guitar, some mistaking her for a street performer and throwing change into her case. She smiled and walked back to her apartment and went to bed, happy and content.


	8. Making Advances

**So it's been a minute, but I finally have the next chapter ready! I hope you all enjoy the story and lemme know what you think down below, thank you!**

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It was another normal, boring day for Piki. She was simply sitting in her home, having only herself and her guitar. Piki simply plucked at random strings, placing her fingers onto different frets, trying to some up with any sort of melody for her to write. She had nothing.

Piki sighed dejectedly, "I have no inspiration," She said in a sing-song like voice strumming some chords on her guitar, "Why does writing music have to be so hard? It's so annoying but… kinda fun at the same time. If only I had a bit more of a creative mindset, it'd be easier to come up with lyrics." Just as Piki was yawning and almost passing out from boredom, she heard knocks at the door before hearing the door open, it was Aria.

"PIKI! PIKI PIKI PIKI PIKI!" She screamed rapedeatly,

"Jeez, Aria, calm down! What is it?"

Aria threw a book at Piki's face, causing her to fall back on her couch, "Battle of the bands is in a few months! We need to enter!"

"And the reason you threw the book in my face was because…?"

"It has song ideas and band names! I think you'll really like them!"

Piki opened the book and began reading it, only doing so for about 15 seconds before closing the book, "Yeah no."

"Aww what's wrong? Do you not like the songs?"

"It's not the songs that are the problem, it's the band names!"

"What's wrong with the names?"

"'Tentacle-less Squids', really, Aria?"

"Hey I came up with that one all by myself! I think it's a great name!" Aria made a pose that made it look like she was proud of herself,

Piki gave a disappointed sigh, "I'd like for others to take our band seriously, Aria."

"Well do you have a better band name, Piki?" Aria smirked, thinking she had won an argument of somesort,

"Spectrum." Piki stated with a blank expression, tossing the book back to Aria. "The band could be named Spectrum, since for one, we're a spectrum of people, and two, we can change color and it's a spectrum of color, thus, the name Spectrum." Aria's mouth was open as she clutched her book,

"How are you so good at coming up with names?" Aria huffed, crossing her arms and puffing out her cheeks,

Piki simply chuckled, "Perks of having a very creative mind, my dear Aria," She chuckled as she booped Aria on the nose. Another knock was heard at the door, "Coming!" Piki went to the door, opening it to find Tashiniko standing there with a box, "Oh, hello, Tashiniko!"

"Hello Piki! May I come in?" Tashiniko stated with a smile on her face accompanied by a blush.

"Of course! By all means, come in!" Piki gave a warm smile in return as Tashiniko walked into the house, her eyes met with Aria's, the octoling having a grin on her face.

"And who might you be little sweetie?" Aria gave a sweet smile at Tashiniko, who gave a confused look back,

"Um… I'm Tashiniko, and you are?" Tashiniko tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the octoling.

"I'm Aria! Pleasure to meet you!" Aria extended a hand for Tashiniko as she stared at her confused,

"You alright Tashiniko?" Piki asked in a concerned tone,

"I've just… never met an Octoling before, it's… new for me." Tashiniko seemed to be a bit nervous,

"I understand if I don't make you the most comfortable, Octolings have gotten a bad rep so it's fine!" Aria kneeled down and patted Tashiniko on the head. This patting cause Tashiniko to get a little more comfortable around Aria,

"So, Tahiniko, what's in the box?" Piki asked quizzically as she sat back down on her couch,

"Oh! Um, it's something I wanted to give you!" Tashiniko carefully gave Piki the box, who opened it. Inside of the box were chocolates. Piki chuckled a bit,

"Thanks, Tashiniko!" She popped a chocolate into her mouth as Tashiniko blushed slightly,

"No problem, Piki!"

Aria chuckled at the two of them, "Hey, Tashiniko?"

Tashiniko looked up at Aria, "Hmm? What's up?"

"Do you know how to play a keyboard or piano?"

Piki rolled her eyes and sighed, "Are you seriously asking her that, Aria?" Piki gave the octoling a very unamused look,

"What? Is it not customary for squids and octopi to get to know their friends?" Aria smiled and chuckled, Piki giving another sigh as she also chuckled,

"Forgive her, Tashiniko. She often pretends to not know inkling culture, even though she is more than aware of how it is." At this Aria simply looking up at seemingly nothing, humming innocently as Tashiniko giggled,

"Well, as a matter of fact, I do know how to play the keyboard! I even won a competition for piano playing when I was younger!"

Aria's eyes sparkled as she went to speak, but first looked at Piki who chuckled a bit and looked at Tashiniko, "Hey, would you be willing to join our band? Me, Aria and our other friend Alex are making a band called Spectrum. In it, I'm the guitarist, Aria plays the bass guitar and Alex plays drums."

"You forgot to mention the part where you're the lead singer!" Aria chimed in as Piki shot her a glare,

"Yes, I guess I should mention I'm the lead singer, but not by choice. I was forced to in a way." She looked at Tashiniko and smiled warmly, "You in?"

Tashiniko looked at Piki, blushing pink, "_Playing in a band with Piki… getting to hear her sing every performance… meeting new people and getting possibly famous… how could I…_" She thought before speaking, "I'm in! It would be an honor to be in your band Piki!" Tashiniko gave a hearty smile,

"Great! Now let's call up Alex and get a rehearsal done at my house, yeah?" Aria was already taking out her phone to call Alex and schedule a rehearsal. Tashiniko looked at Piki who simply sighed,

"You get used to it, Tashiniko." Piki gave Tashiniko a pat on the head.

After a while, Aria, Piki and Tashiniko started walking to Aria's house. When they arrived they noticed a familiar inkling standing there with long green hair on his phone. He looked up from his phone and smiled, seeing the trio of girls coming.

"Hey, Aria! Piki! And uh… who are you?" Alex asked as he looked at the small pink inkling,

"H-Hey I'm… wait a minute… you look very familiar!" Tashiniko exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes at Alex,

"Uh, I do?" Alex tilted his head as he looked at Tashiniko,

"You know him, Tashiniko?" Aria asked the pink haired girl,

"Tashiniko… you know now that you mention it, I do recognize you!" Alex gave Tashiniko a smile as Tashiniko tilted her head,

"Wait… I do know you!" Tashiniko exclaimed with a smile, "You and my brother-"

Alex's face quickly grew green as he exclaimed, "Oh yeah, yeah! Tashiniko! Been a while heh heh." He quickly hugged her, which shut her up. Tashiniko chuckled as she hugged Alex back. Aria and Piki gained a look of confusion. After a few moments, Aria walked up to her door,

"C'mon! Let's all head in and get to it!" Aria exclaimed,

"Oh yeah, you were talking about how we got a new member, right?" Alex twirled a drumstick in between his fingers,

"Yup! Tashiniko over here is our new keyboardist!" Piki smiled as she patted her teammate's head. Tashiniko blushed a bright pink as she smiled,

"Ah I see, awesome! So is the band complete?"

"Practically, yes. If we were to get a rhythm guitarist though, it'd really help us out, but 4 members isn't that terrible!"

"All we need to do is make an original song." Aria stated as she opened the door to her house, "It's not the easiest thing to do, though."

"Girl do I know that. I've got nothing with the song I'm trying to write now. I can't tell what's more difficult, though, chord progressions or lyrics." Piki chuckled,

"The answer to that is yes!" Aria chuckled, "Before we begin doing anything, would anybody like a coffee or tea or anything to drink? Maybe a snack?"

"I'll take a coffee, please, thank you." Piki requested as she took out her guitar, tuning it.

"I'll have coffee too!" Tashiniko exclaimed as she sat next to Piki, who was just kinda plucking strings. Alex sat on a couch as Aria came to the group with two cups of coffee, a small pitcher of milk and a small container of sweetener. Tashiniko fixed up her's and Piki's cup of coffee, taking a sip out of her's. Piki soon took a sip after and gave a satisfied sigh,

"Ah, coffee. I'm pretty sure I have an addiction at this point but whatever, I'm already addicted to guitar." Piki chuckled to herself as she continued to strum and pluck. She was humming a little tune as she did so.

"Whacha hummin' there, Piki girl?" Aria asked curiously,

"I'm trying to write a song but it's rather…" She trailed and cut herself off, seemingly freezing in place,

"Uh, Piki? You ok there? Piki?" Aria tilted her head in confusion before Piki shot up and reached into her guitar bag. She began rummaging through it before pulling out her capo. She put it on the 4th fret on her guitar, "Did you get hit with the inspiration stick?"

"Mhm, I very much did!" Piki started to strum some chords and humming, after a while she smiled, "Alright, I have a good basis for what the song will be." She smiled wider, Tashiniko blushed a bit as she looked at Piki's smiling face. Aria got a grin on her face,

"Hey, Piki, why don't you swoon us a bit?" Aria grinned wider at Piki as she said that, Piki's face flushed a bright blue,

"W-What?!"

"You heard me, swoon us! Play something for us!" Aria chuckled a bit, "If needed, I can go grab my bass and back you up."

"N-No that's alright, I-I'll play something heh. Do you want something sweet, or something more heavy?" Piki still had a bright blue face,

"Something sweet, seem good Piki?"

Piki nodded before starting to play a soothing, soft melody. Her voice was melodic as she sang. As her voice rang through the house, Tashiniko's face became even more of a bright pink. She was in awe at Piki's voice. Piki, herself, had bright blue cheeks as she was singing. The blue soon left her cheeks, her voice became more powerful, emotional, passionate. Once again, she was on her own little stage performing for others. She knew about her friends watching her, but she kept on playing. She soon finished singing, and when she did, the realization of who she sang for set in more. She blushed a very bright and opaque blue. The other three in the room clapped for Piki. Piki nervously scratched the back of her head.

"That was amazing, Piki!" Tashiniko was quick to exclaim,

"Heh heh, thanks, Tashiniko." Piki's blush soon died down as she looked at Aria and Alex,

"I think we made the perfect choice picking you as our lead vocalist!" Alex chuckled a bit as he kept on twirling a drumstick in his hand, "I mean, I haven't heard Aria or Tashiniko sing, but I can definitely say that I sound like nails on a chalkboard."

Piki threw a pillow at Alex after he had said that, "No talking bad about yourself!" Piki smiled and chuckled,

"It's not talking bad about yourself if it's true!" Alex tapped his temple as he grinned, getting pelted with another pillow. After some time of them just relaxing, they went into Aria's practice room. Aria pulled out a keyboard as Piki and Alex set up their respective instruments. Aria plugged the keyboard in and set it in front of Tashiniko, who looked a bit confused.

"Here's my keyboard! Show us what ya got, girl!" Aria smiled and clapped her hands once as Tashiniko looked confused at the keyboard, "Something wrong?"

"I'm used to grand pianos, not so much electric keyboards. If I could just find middle C I should be good." She fiddled around with the keyboard a bit. Aria took this time to set up her bass.

"So, Piki, would you consider playing a pure electric guitar?" Aria tuned her bass as she spoke to the blue haired inkling,

"It depends, probably if it works better with the song, but I mostly would play my acoustic-electric baby." Piki smiled as she strummed a simple C major chord,

Aria chuckled, "I would say the same with an acoustic-electric bass, but they don't sound as good as pure electric basses. Plus I love my bass here already!"

"Yeah I get that, I still play my normal acoustic guitar since it was a gift from my brother. Speaking of which I probably need to do care on it…"

"I took care of everything when I changed your strings! So there's no need to worry!"

"Oh thanks Aria! That helps a lot!" While they were talking, they suddenly heard a very complex piano melody from the other side of the room. They looked over and saw Tashiniko playing the keyboard, having seemingly no problem playing the complex piece of music. Tashiniko seemed to be in a state of zen as the rest of the band was watching in awe. She soon concluded the music piece and smiles,

"Good, I didn't forget how to play that!" Tashiniko chuckled to herself,

"Damn, Tashi! That was amazing!" Aria exclaimed happily and hugged the pink haired inkling,

"Heh, thanks, that was my warm-up so it wasn't the best."

Aria's eyes widened, "THAT was a WARMUP?!" She was absolutely flabbergasted,

"Yeah! Was it like, not that good?" Tashiniko tilted her head,

"Are you kidding?! It was amazing!" Aria smiled widely, "This band is gonna be awesome! We got a really great pianist, an amazing drummer, an excellent guitarist and singer, and a pretty good bassist!" Aria starts to excitedly jump around the room. Piki rolled her eyes and chuckled a bit.

"We should all do our warmups if we're gonna play. So Aria you should get to doing scales or something. I'll get to doing the same." Piki tuned her guitar again and started to play scales. Alex, meanwhile, was stretching. Piki gave a quizzical look at Alex, "Alex what are you doing?"

"Stretching. Drums take a lot more work than the other instruments, so getting some stretches would really help me and such." He pulled his arm across his chest, "It helps with muscle soreness and all that stuff no one wants but everyone gets because they forget to stretch before running or something." He chuckled to himself as he finished his stretching. "Also please don't forget to give breaks in between songs, I'm practically killing myself with what I'm doing, so a bit of a break is fantastic." He chuckled as he sat behind the drumset.

"Absolutely not, you will be tortured and you will like it!" Aria sarcastically chuckled as she did some scales on her bass. The other bandmates chuckled as well as they all did their separate warm ups. After about 10 minutes, they assembled together.

"Alright, we should try and write a song or something." Piki stated as she fiddled with her guitar, "Should we just kinda try song covers right now or should we try and do quick songs?"

"Right now let's just do covers and jam together, then we'll have like, you go home and write some songs, yeah?" Alex twirled a drumstick in his hand as he gently tapped the snare drum with the drumstick in his other hand,

"Sounds good to me, hopefully the songs will be ok." Piki nervously fiddled with her tentacle hair. Tashiniko chuckled a bit. She looked at her three bandmates,

"_They are really into music, I hope I can keep up with them. Being here is gonna make me need to really buckle down and practice piano. Hopefully I won't have to leave the band or something since I'm not as into music as they are…_" Tashiniko thought to herself as she just played a simple chord on the keyboard. After a while of just messing around, Aria went into her music cabinet and took out some sheet music and tabs.

"Here! I got a song for us to start covering! 82 bpm in F major, 4/4 time. Piki, the song goes kinda low for a girl, can you hit those notes?" Aria passed the lyric sheet to Piki, who was scanning the page thoroughly. She hummed to herself the melody and nodded,

"I can hit these notes just fine! Let's get started! Alex, count us off!" Piki readied her guitar. Alex clicked his sticks together and they started to play. Of course, the sound they got wasn't the best with adding Tashiniko and they were learning a new song. They practiced for many hours that day. They decided to call it a day at around 10 pm, Piki and Tashiniko decided to head home together. They decided to get a bite to eat before they got to the train station,

"You did really amazing today, Piki!" Tashiniko complemented as she blushed an ever so light shade of pink,

"Thanks, Tashiniko! My voice and guitar playing aren't the best though heh." Piki nervously chuckled as she sipped a milkshake. Tashiniko shook her head,

"It was amazing! You're singing and guitar playing are some of the best I've heard!"

"It's really not that good but, if you say so, Tashiniko." Piki smiled and patted her friend on the head. Tashiniko's face became more pink as she was pat, "Ya know, you tend to blush a lot, Tashiniko. Why is that?"

Tashiniko very soon became defensive, "N-No reason at all! I-It's just um… cold?"

Piki raised an eyebrow and smiled, "It's like, 75 or 80 degrees out right now. It's not cold, nice try, though." She chuckled as she continued walking to the train station with Tashiniko.

"_Alright Tashi… try and make your move!_" Tashiniko thought to herself. She went and tried to gently grab Piki's hand. Her heart was pounding. Her stomach, fluttering. She was nervous, but she wanted to make her move. Once she gently gripped Piki's hand, her face grew pink. It was a good few seconds before Tashiniko went to pull her hand away, when she felt Piki grip her hand back. In surprise, Tashiniko looked up at Piki, who had a smile on her face, which was colored a light blue.

"We're gonna be at the station soon, Tashi. That's where you gotta go to head home, yeah?" Piki asked, having never called Tashiniko "Tashi" before. Tashiniko simply nodded, "Alright, well, I'll see you tomorrow for team practice and the show?"

"The show?" Tashiniko tilted her head,

"Yeah, the fireworks show!"

"There's a fireworks show?"

"Yeah! I heard they're gonna start doing it to celebrate the Squid Leagues. I was thinking you and I were gonna sit and watch them together, is that ok?"

"Yeah! Of course! I'd love to, Piki!" Tashiniko happily hugged Piki tightly as she smiled,

"Alright, I'll see you then, darling." Piki chuckled a bit as she walked to the train. Tashiniko waited for her train to leave before she started to walk home,

"Alright, Tashi… tomorrow… tell her tomorrow!" She gave herself a confident grin and pumped her fist as she walked home.


	9. Sparks Fly

**So I finally got around to writing this chapter, and I gotta say, this is probably my favorite chapter I've written for the story! It's also my longest one (4,849 words, holy hecc.) As always, lemme know what you think and what I can improve upon, thank you!**

* * *

Tashiniko was pacing around in her room. She was thinking to herself, outloud of course, giving herself a little pep talk. She had the first round of the Squid Leagues soon, they were going up against a team called "Strawberry Lemonade." She wasn't very worried as they weren't the greatest team, nor did they have outstanding gear. No, what Tashiniko was worried about was the fireworks show that would happen later to celebrate the first round. She would be watching the fireworks show with Piki, not only her friend, teammate and band mate, but also her crush. Tashiniko had strong feelings for Piki, but she wasn't sure how, or even if, to tell her.

"It'll be fine, Tashi! She's your friend! Today is gonna be the day when you tell her! It'll be fine… right?" Tashiniko sighed as she plopped on her bed, staring at her ceiling a bit when she heard a creak from her bedroom door. In walked a rather tall inkling with orange hair. His hair was medium length with a ponytail tied at the back. He had rather fair skin much like the small pink haired Tashiniko. He walked in,

"You alright there, sis?" He asked, raising an eyebrow,

"Yes, Kai, I'm alright. Just contemplating some things right now."

"Hey I'm sure you're gonna do great at practice today!"

Tashiniko's expression didn't change, "I'm not worried about that, practice is easy…"

"Is it Piki?"

"Yeah… it's Piki. We're gonna see the fireworks show after practice is over and…" She cut herself off as her brother chuckled,

"Is that when you're planning on confessing to Piki?"

"Yeah, I was going to at the show but I'm scared… like, what if she says no?" Tashiniko sat up on her bed as Kai took a seat next to her and put a hand on her shoulder,

"A confession can be hard, Tashi. Hell, I know first hand how nerve wracking it can be. Just ask her and I promise you'll be fine, ok?"

Tashiniko gave her brother a smile, "You're right. Thanks, Kai." Tashiniko gave her brother a hug,

Kai giggled to himself, "Anytime, Tashi. Also…"

"Also?"

"It's 4 pm."

"Yeah? So what if… CARP I NEED TO BE AT THE PLAZA!" Tashiniko started scampering around her room to find her Splattershot, which to no surprise of her brother, was strapped to her back. Kai playfully rolled his eyes and took the Splattershot out of the holster, causing Tashiniko to turn around.

"This what you're looking for?" Kai grinned and twirled the shooter around his finger. Tashiniko blushed a bit and took it from him, putting it back in it's holster

"Um… yes, thank you." She bowed in respect, as she was accustomed to do and ran out of the house. On her way to the train station where she would be riding the train to the leagues, she ran into a familiar face. "James!" She exclaimed as she saw the ex-Color Cadet. James turned and smiled as he saw the small inkling girl,

"Hey, Tashiniko! How goes it?"

"It's going alright, I didn't wanna be late for practice though so I kinda ran as fast as I could." She panted heavily after running,

"You do realize it's like, 4:15 pm and practice doesn't normally start 'till 6? Not to mention it's only a 30 minute train ride to the plaza."

"I-I like to be early! So myeh!" Tashiniko's face became pink,

"... did you just say 'myeh'?" James snickered a bit, "C'mon, let's hop on the train and get there already." James and Tashiniko walked onto the train, taking a seat. The train was rather barren, not having many people on it.

"Hey, James? Are you going to watch the fireworks show?" Tashiniko asked as she checked her phone, checking the team they were going up against again,

"Yeah, I'm probably gonna watch it. What about you?"

Tashiniko blushed a bit, "Um… yeah Imma watch it. Piki actually asked me to watch it with her. I didn't even know there was a fireworks show honestly."

James's face morphed into a grin, "I see, that's the perfect time, ya know." He chuckled a bit,

"Yeah… I know, I was planning on asking her out at the show, actually. I'm really nervous…"

"Hey I'm sure it's all going to be great! Be charismatic and smooth when you ask her, though."

Tashiniko tilted her head, "Charismatic? Smooth?"

"Yeah of course! Being nice and smooth will get you far, trust me."

"Remind me how many girlfriends you've had, James?"

"... ok so I've only had one when I was young but my point still stands!"

Tashiniko howled with laughter, "Yeah ok Mr. Love Guru." Tashiniko stuck her tongue out. The train arrived at the plaza at around 4:50 pm. Since the two of them were early, they decided to get some food together. While they were eating, James decided to start up another conversation,

"So, how do you plan on telling Piki?" He asked as he took a sip of his drink,

"I'm not sure, I was just gonna kinda ask her out, ya know?" Tashiniko ate a bit of her salad,

"You gotta use a pick-up line! That's how you get girls, Tashi."

"Yeah ok, whatever you say, James." Tashiniko chuckled a bit as she sipped her water. James and Tashiniko continued to talk to each other when they heard another voice,

"Yo, nerds!" The voice cried out. James and Tashiniko looked in the direction of the voice to find their blue-haired sniper teammate, Shane. He pulled up a chair and sat at their table, sitting in it with his arms hanging over the back of the chair. "Whatcha guys up to?"

"Oh not much, just chilling before we start training. Oh, and Tashiniko is gonna confess to Piki at the fireworks show." James calmly responded,

"JAMES!" Tashiniko screamed as her face flushed a bright pink.

James and Shane laughed, "It's not like you hide it well, Tashiniko. Besides, you've told both of us!" Shane smiled as he turned his chair around, sitting in it normally,

Tashiniko's face grew a bit more pink, "R-Right… I did tell you… NONE OF YOU TOLD PIKI, RIGHT?!"

James laughed, "No, no, neither of us told Piki, don't worry." Tashiniko sighed in relief, "I'm telling her that she needs to use a pick up line and be smooth when she asks Piki out."

"Smooth? Pickup line? Nah, you gotta be funny!" Shane exclaimed as he pumped his fist

"Prey tell, how many girlfriends or boyfriends have you had, Shane?" James raised an eyebrow,

"... Ok so I haven't had a partner before! My point still stands!"

Tashiniko giggled a bit as she thought to herself, "_Just ask… be funny… smooth… what do I do? What would Piki want? I don't understand what I'm supposed to do… is it supposed to be easy? Difficult? Scary? I don't understand…_" Tashiniko sighed to herself. They stayed in the plaza for a few hours until Piki came around. She was only a few minutes late,

"Sorry I'm late, everyone! I got way too into guitar and lost track of time!" Piki put a hand behind her head and smiled nervously, Tashiniko of course blushing a bit,

"It's no problem, Piki!" Tashiniko happily exclaimed,

"Anyways, shall we get started?" Shane stood up, ready to go into training.

"Hell yeah!" Piki exclaimed as she ran into the lobby. Tashiniko smiled a blushie smile,

James pat Tashiniko's shoulder, "You have a few hours to think about how you're gonna ask her out. You think you're gonna be ok?"

"Yeah… I think so." Tashiniko started to walk to the lobby. Shane and James exchanged a look of worry, they weren't sure how Tashiniko would hold up. They all got to the lobby and started a private room.

"So, what's the plan, Shane?" Piki asked as she readied her roller,

"2 v 2, me and James against you and Tashiniko. We'll go off of splats. After this we can get into doing drills." Shane readied his charger. James, Piki and Tashiniko nodded and readied their weapons. James readied his Grim Range Blaster, Piki her Carbon Roller Deco and Tashiniko readied her Splattershot. The practice match started and they were waiting in their spawn points. Piki and Tashiniko were orange while Shane and James were seafoam green.

"Alright, what's our plan, Shane?" James asked the charger,

"Piki's aggressive, if you can, distract her and I'll snipe her. I'll hafta be careful of Tashiniko though…" Shane fixed his hat,

"I'll see if I can deal with her. You'll have my back though, right?"

"Yeah, 100 percent."

Meanwhile, Tashiniko and Piki were planning as well,

"See if you can get Shane down from whatever perch he goes on. I'll see if I can get James." Piki got a determined look on her face

"Right." Tashiniko smiled,

"Tashiniko?"

"Yeah Piki?"

"Good luck. You'll do great." Piki gave Tashiniko a smile,

Tashiniko smiled and blushed a bit, "You too, Piki."

The two teams heard a gunshot go off and bolted to the middle of the stage. Tashiniko hooked left as Piki went straight for the middle. Shane went to the right and climbed on top of a perch and looked through his scope, while James also went to the middle. Piki and James met each other in the middle and had a small 1 on 1 duel. They kept going back and forth until Piki ran out of ink. She was splatted by James.

"Heh, always make sure your tank is fu-" James started saying before he was splatted by Tashiniko,

"Watch your back!" She exclaimed as she swam through the ink. Tashiniko inked as much as she could. Piki and James soon respawned and left their spawn points again. Tashiniko looked up and noticed Shane perched on a pillar, "Piki! On the pillar to the right!" Tashiniko spoke into her intercom,

"I see it, Tashi!" Piki responded as she made her way to the pillar in question. James noticed Piki's advance and went to go splat her. James chased Piki far into the map, splatting her when she got close to Shane, "Dammit... So close." Pik got out of her spawn once she respawned and resumed her inking. Tashiniko was cornered by Shane and James. Right before she was splatted, however, Piki splatted James from behind, "Go and distract Shane!"

"R-Right!" Tashiniko responded as she threw a burst bomb at Shane and got his attention. It worked. Shane looked at Tashiniko through his scope and started to snipe at her. However, Piki was climbing up the pillar and splatted Shane once she got to the top. The battle raged on over the intense 3 minutes, but it came to an end. Once the results were tallied, it was determined that Piki and Tashiniko got more turf and splats then Shane and James.

"Damn, awesome job you two!" Shane gave a thumbs up to the two and started to pack his charger away,

"Thanks! Also aren't we doing drills?" Piki tilted her head,

"Eh, I thought about it, but I figured since it's that fireworks show today, we could take it easy and have a short practice."

"One battle is barely practice!" Piki puffed her cheeks out,

"The purpose of this was to practice communication and teamwork, nothing physical." Shane gave a smirk,

"So is that why you put us in such small groups?" Tashiniko asked as she put her shooter away,

"Yup! That's the reason! Now, let's get some dinner, sound good to everyone?" Shane pulled out his wallet,

"Sounds good to me. Who's turn is it to pay for dinner?" James asked,

"I'll pay for us, I don't mind." Shane started walking to a restaurant as he spoke. The rest of the team followed him. James patted Tashiniko on the shoulder,

"Giving you a bit more time to think." James whispered as he gave Tashiniko a wink as she blushed a bit,

"Was this whole cut practice thing your idea?!" Tashinko loudly whispered,

"Yeah, I suggested it to Shane and he thought it was a good idea. He was planning to work on communication but we already worked so well I felt. I'm sure he felt it too so he didn't think it was necessary to make it longer. Didn't think it'd be that short though." James shrugged and they all walked to a restaurant. As they were entering, they heard a very upbeat voice,

"PIKIII! TASHINIKOOO!" The voice exclaimed. As Piki and Tashiniko turned around, they felt a pair of arms hug them tightly. It was Aria, the bassist of Spectrum. "Didn't think I'd see you here!"

Piki and Tashiniko chuckled, "We were getting some dinner with the team." Piki stated as she pat Aria,

"Team? Wait, you mean Rainbow Rays?!" Aria's eyes widened as she was excited,

"Yup! Me, Tashi, Shane and James!" Piki smiled as she looked at Aria's hands, which were behind her back, "Hey, Aria? What's behind your back?"

"Hmm? Oh! I have some gifts from the Sanctuary!" Aria moved her hands in front of her and showed the fact that she had 2 instrument cases, both looking very similar, "It's for you, Piki!"

"Instruments? Why did you get me instruments?" Piki took the cases,

"Spreading the gift and joy of music! That's the job of the Music Sanctuary! I'm just doing what the job entails!" Aria happily bounced up and down, Piki rolled her eyes a bit and chuckled.

She proceeded to open the two cases and her eyes sparkled at what she saw. It was a ukulele and a violin. The violin looked like a standard run of the mill violin. It had two bows, some rosin, a spare bridge, finger guides and strings. The ukulele was the same design as her electric-acoustic guitar. The ukulele came with a tuner and spare strings.

"Whoa… this ukulele is beautiful! And a violin? I can't even play it!" Piki didn't know what to do, she had two new instruments in her hand,

Aria chuckled, "Well now you can learn to play! Luckily I know how to play these instruments so I can always teach you." Aria winked as she nudged Piki a bit. The two chuckled,

"Well Imma head back with my team, wanna join us for dinner Aria? Why not invite Alex along too?" Piki smiled as she slung the two instruments over her shoulder,

"One step ahead of ya!" Aria started texting on her phone, "Oh! By the way, I have a gift for you as well, Tashiniko! It's at my house so come by later to pick it up."

Tashiniko nodded, "Alrighty! I'll do so!" Piki and Tashiniko started to walk to the restaurant. Aria stopped Piki as she was walking,

"Hey, you're watching the fireworks today, right?"

"Yeah. I asked Tashiniko if she wanted to watch with me and she said yes so that's interesting."

Aria wiggled her eyebrows a bit, "Oooh, seeing the show with Tashiniko, eh? Sounds like it'll be fun, doncha think?" She teased as she chuckled, Piki blushing a bit,

"H-Hey! It's nothing like that! Plus… there's no way she'd like me like I like her…" Piki dejectedly sighed,

"Why do you say that, darlin'?" Aria sat on a bench, patting the seat next to her. Piki sat down,

"It's just… she could do so much better then someone like me."

"Maybe she really likes you, though! Who knows, maybe she's thinking about asking you out at the show." Aria ruffled Piki's hair a bit, causing Piki to smile and giggle,

"Maybe you're right, Aria. I don't have my hopes too high, though. Anyways, let's meet up with everyone," Piki stood up,

"I'll come once I see Alex! I'll text you when he gets here!" Aria waved as Piki ran to catch up with the others. Shane, Tashiniko and James were in the waiting area. Piki sat near them.

"They don't have any tables or booths available. We're waiting for some to open up then we'll get situated." James stated calmly as always as he checked his phone.

"I see, well hopefully we don't wait so long we miss the show!" Piki joked as she chuckled,

A very dapper looking male octoling came out from the side of the restaurant, "James?" He called. James raised his hand,

"That's me." He got up and walked to the waiter,

"How many do you need seated?" The waiter started to pick up some menus,

"Six I believe, right, Piki?"

"Mhm, Aria and Alex are tagging along with us so six."

The waiter nodded and picked up 6 menus, "Right this way, please." The waiter lead The Rainbow Rays to their table, "Who are the others you are waiting for?"

"Aria and Alex, one an octoling and one an inkling." Piki stated,

"I shall be on the lookout. I will get you a drink, be back momentarily." The waiter left. The Rainbow Rays were talking amongst themselves. Tashiniko was stacking milk and jelly cartons. Piki was watching her and just rolled her eyes, sighing to herself.

"Tashiniko, are you like, 5 years old?" Piki stated with snark in her voice,

"Hey it's fun and keeps me occupied, ok?" Tashiniko puffed her cheeks out in a defensive manner. Piki laughed,

"Oh, Tashiniko, please never change." Piki gave a genuine smile to Tashiniko, who in turn blushed. Shane and James looked at eachother,

"End of the night?" James asked in a hushed tone to Shane,

"End of the night at the latest." Shane replied with a confident grin. The two looked back at Tashiniko and Piki, who were chatting and laughing as Tashiniko continued to stack the milk and jelly cartons, "How much longer 'till the show?"

"We have a few more hours. It's at, like, 10 or 11 pm I think." James leaned back a bit in his chair. Soon after everyone got settled in, Aria and Alex arrived to the table with the waiter,

"My apologies for the wait. Are these who you were waiting for?" The waiter asked,

"Yes, these were who we were waiting for." Piki replied with a smile,

"Wonderful! I shall be back to take your orders. Would anyone like a drink?"

"Can I have a chocolate milk?!" Tashiniko asked Shane, excitedly,

Shane chuckled, "Yes, Tashiniko, you can have a chocolate milk."

"I'll take a soda." Aria stated as she sat down next to Piki, Alex sitting across from her.

"Soda for me too, please." Alex politely smiled,

"Iced Sea Tea for me." James requested, getting a look from everyone, including the waiter, "What? It's good stuff."

"If you have no taste buds." Aria snarked and chuckled, looking at the milk and jelly carton stack that Tashiniko had constructed, giggling.

"I'll take a coffee, please!" Piki exclaimed and smiled as Shane raised his hand,

"Coffee for me too, please." Shane smiled,

"Alright. I shall be back momentarily." The waiter bowed and left. Aria and Alex got situated,

"So, the fireworks show is today, yeah?" Alex asked,

"Mhm! It's gonna be really awesome! Personally I'm excited! All the colors and scenery will give me good art ideas!" Tashiniko's eyes sparkled as she said that.

"Oh you're an artist, Tashiniko?" Aria asked, intrigued.

"Yeah! I made the logo for Rainbow Rays! I've been having a huge art block recently and I was hoping the show would snap me out of it."

"Oh that makes sense! How's your music block going, Piki?" Aria turned to Piki,

"I've still got little to nothing," Piki sighed, dejectedly, "I wanna write a really upbeat song. I'm just not entirely sure how to go about it. Not sure if I should go motivational or not."

"Yeah, that's the whole issue with upbeat songs. They go from motivational and cliché to stereotypical 'I wanna party!' songs." Alex chimed in. Soon into their conversation, the waiter came back with all of their drinks.

"Pardon my intrusion, but are you perhaps musicians?" The waiter asked, putting the drinks on the table.

"Yes, yes we are. At least four of us are." Piki nodded as she took her coffee,

"My, what instruments do you play?"

"I play guitar, Aria plays the bass, Tashiniko plays the piano and Alex plays the drums."

"Wow! Sounds exciting! How long have you all been playing?"

"I've been playing for… 4 years?" Piki asked herself,

"I've been playing for about 8 or 10 years." Alex sipped his soda,

"Same here!" Aria excitedly bounced in her seat,

"What about you, Ms. Tashiniko?" The waiter turned to Tashiniko,

"Twelve years." She stated, sipping her chocolate milk. Everyone looked at her in shock,

"How old are you again, Tashiniko?" Piki asked with wide eyes,

"Fourteen years old." She said calmly with a straight face. Everyone was looking at her in shock, "What? What's the big deal?"

"You've been playing piano since you were two?!"

"Um… yeah. Isn't that common?" Tashiniko tilted her head,

"It's not common, actually. I started when I was ten!"

"I was only 6 or 8." Alex was still wide eyed in confusion.

"I was 5 or 7." Aria sipped her soda

"Huh… I always thought it was more common but I guess not." Tashiniko whispered to herself,

"Well, that sounds very entertaining to say the least." The waiter smiled, "I hope you all have a fantastic time playing. Now, would you like to order appetizers while you decide on your food?" The waiter prepped his notepad, ready to take orders. The table collectively ordered mozzarella sticks. The waiter nodded and left to take the order to the kitchen,

"Anyone else wondering why he asked about us being musicians?" Aria raised an eyebrow,

"Maybe he was just curious." James gulped his sea tea.

"I mean, that is possible. Still a little odd though." Aria shrugged a bit.

The waiter soon came back with the mozzarella sticks. He set them on the table. After that, he took everyone's orders. The rest of the restaurant dinner went off with no problems, it was filled with laughs and all around fun times among the group. They left the restaurant, giving a generous tip to the waiter.

The group of Piki, Tashiniko, James, Shane, Aria and Alex went to the middle of the plaza. Many inklings were gathered in the plaza. People were sitting on blankets and chatting amongst each other. Piki had brought her own blankets,

"I brought three blankets for everyone! We can maybe all share one blanket." Piki suggested,

"Since we have three, why don't we sit two to a blanket? It makes the most sense, yeah?" Shane suggested,

"Alright sounds good! How should we split it?"

"I say Aria and Alex on one, James and I on one and you and Tashiniko share one!"

"Anyone have any complaints?" James asked. No one raised any objections. Everyone set up their blankets. Piki and Tashiniko distanced themselves from everyone else. They were on a more elevated part of the plaza, almost like a hill. Of course, the others were there as well, but in other parts of the hill. Tashiniko was blushing a bright pink. The wind was blowing. It was a rather cold night. The stars were bright in the sky. All the building's lights were turned off,

"_Alright Tashiniko… when the fireworks go off… ask her! Just ask and be yourself!_" Tashiniko thought to herself. She shivered a bit, "It's rather cold out, don't you think, Piki?"

"Not really. Here, if you're cold…" Piki took off her Chilly Mountain Coat, revealing her White Anchor Tee which she wore underneath. She put her jacket on Tashiniko, who blushed even more, "... there we go! That should be warm enough, yeah?"

"Um… y-yea! Thanks, Piki!"

Piki nodded, "Thanks for agreeing to watch the fireworks with me, Tashiniko." Piki smiled at Tashiniko, brightly and warmly,

"It's no problem! It's fun hanging out with you, Piki!" Tashiniko smiled back.

"It's a beautiful night tonight, isn't it?" Piki looked up at the stars,

"It sure is. I don't think I've ever seen this many stars before!"

"If you listen closely, I swear you can hear a little tune!"

"Really? What does it sound like?" Tashiniko tilted her head,

"It's sweet, relaxing. Comforting. Like…" Piki began to hum a small tune. Tashiniko was listening closely to the melody. It was as Piki said, soft, relaxing, comforting.

"Can you teach me, Piki?"

"Sure! It goes like this…" Piki began to hum it again. Tashiniko was following along, "Yeah you got it!" Piki began to hum a harmony part to the melody that Tashiniko was humming. The rest of the group was looking at Piki and Tashiniko, smiling at them. They were all having their own conversations.

Piki and Tashiniko stopped humming, "You learn quick, Tashi!"

"Thanks, Piki! Y-You're a really good teacher!" Tashiniko was still blushing,

Piki giggled, patting Tashiniko on the head. There was suddenly a loud whistle. Tashiniko and Piki looked up in the sky and saw a bright flash of color in the sky, followed by another, and then another, "Whoa… the fireworks started!"

"Y-Yeah!" Tashiniko's heart was pounding. The butterflies in her stomach had flown back. She was about to do it, she had to. "Um… Piki?"

"What's up?"

"Well… ever since I met you… and you saved me from those inklings in turf war, I've felt… different."

"Different? Different how?"

"I've been feeling… happier, a-and more confident! When I'm around you… I feel like I can take on the whole world! With you, I feel like… I can do anything. I feel powerful. I'm happy with you… and you mean so much to me." Tashiniko looked up at Piki. She was blushing a bright pink, Piki started to gain a small blue blush as well, "I… I guess what I'm saying is… I love you. I love you so much Piki, so much that… I just need to ask…" Tashiniko took a deep breath, grabbing Piki's hands gently, "Will you… be my girlfriend, Piki?"

Piki's face turned a bright blue. She didn't know what to say. She stared into Tashiniko's eyes for a bit before collecting herself, "... close your eyes, Tashi." She stated,

"W-What?"

"Close your eyes." She stated once more, Tashiniko nodded and did so. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, Tashiniko felt something press up on her lips. Her eyes opened widely in shock, and what she saw made her blush more. Piki had kissed her. Tashiniko soon closed her eyes, falling deeply into the kiss. As if on cue, fireworks went off in a wide array of colors, red, orange, yellow, green, purple, light blue, and pink. Soon, Tashiniko and Piki separated themselves from each other. They looked into the other's eyes, they both had a deep blush on their faces, accompanied by a smile, "Does that answer your question, Tashi?" Piki quietly stated,

"Y-Yeah, yeah it does!" She smiled widely, when she saw a flash of white, and a shutter. Piki and Tashiniko looked over and saw Aria holding out her phone towards them, Alex, Shane and James watching,

"I knew you two would be cute together!" Aria exclaimed,

"Aria did you take a picture of us?!" Piki exclaimed, puffing out her cheeks,

"Well yes, but also a video of you two kissing! I just couldn't help it!" Aria chuckled, before squeaking and running away from Piki, who was chasing after her,

"ARIA YOU BETTER DELETE THOSE RIGHT NOW!"

Tashiniko just stayed where she was and chuckled. Shane and James walked over to her,

"How do you feel?" Shane asked, taking a seat next to Tashiniko,

"Like I'm on cloud nine! I-I did it! I asked her out!" She was smiling ear to ear while blushing,

"Congrats! Now, let's go make sure Piki doesn't kill Aria, yeah?"

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea."

Tashiniko, Shane and James walked up and went to help Alex control Piki. Once Piki was fully calmed down, they sat back down and rewatched the fireworks, Tashiniko laying her head on Piki's shoulder, as they watched the fireworks together.


	10. Cloud Nine

**OOOOKAY IT'S BEEN A HOT MINUTE! I'm very sorry for the super long wait, I lost my story writing motivation and school wasn't really helping, although with the current circumstances of the world and the fact that everyone and their dogs are staying couped up inside, maybe I can get some chapters out! Let's see where this goes!**

**As always let me know what you think in the reviews, criticism is always welcome!**

* * *

"... G major… A major… C major… D major… yeah that works for the chorus. Then it can be G, D, E minor and C for verses, then E minor, C, G and D for pre-chorus." Piki mumbled to herself as she was scribbling on a piece of paper. She was in the middle of writing a song, getting in the zone, "So chords are all sorted out! Now I just need to get lyrics done, which will take… a long time." She sighed.

Piki was just sitting around, trying to think of lyrics, when she heard her door open. She looked to see Tashinko, her girlfriend, standing there smiling, "Heya babe!"

"Tashi, darling! How are you doing?" Piki gave Tashiniko a hug and a kiss on the cheek, Tashiniko returning the affection.

"I'm doing good!" Tashiniko looked at Piki's coffee table, noticing the many pieces of paper with words and things crossed out, "Writing some music I take it?"

"Yeah… it's quite difficult though, and it doesn't seem like I'm getting anywhere? I just don't really know what to write…"

"Well, write about something good that has happened in your life recently!" Tashinko gave a smile,

"There's already too many love songs out there, Tashi." Piki teased as Tashiniko blushed.

"B-Besides that!" Tashiniko puffed her cheeks out, blushing more as Piki chuckled,

"That was a very nice night though! The fireworks, the night sky, the colors… It was all so beautiful!"

"Yeah! I even got a new piece of art done!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah! It's uh.. You and I kissing heh heh. I had Aria send me the picture she took of us kissing and used that as a reference for it. How convenient is it that in the background of the photo the fireworks' colors were pink and light-blue!"

Piki couldn't help but chuckle, "That is a funny coincidence! How did you feel on that day?"

"Well, as I put it to Shane and Alex, I felt like I was on cloud nine!"

"Yeah, it was a really grea-" Piki stopped mid sentence. Tashiniko grew concerned,

"Uh… Piki? You ok?"

"Cloud nine? Cloud nine… cloud nine…"

"Why are you just repeating cloud nine?"

Piki didn't answer, she quickly reached stood up and started strumming some chords on her guitar. She started to sing along, before stopping and squealing, "Cloud Nine! That's it! The song can be called Cloud Nine and can be about ignoring what people are saying and do what you want! Tashi you're a genius!" Piki started to quickly write down some lyrics for her song. Tashiniko smiled, watching her girlfriend geek out about music. Piki's love of music was something Tashiniko thought was adorable. Piki soon shot up, putting her guitar in her gig bag, "C'mon, Tashi!"

"Huh? What's going on?"

"Impromptu rehearsal! We're going to Aria's house and we're gonna bother her to get Alex there! Then we'll start improvising some stuff and we'll have a song!" Piki's eyes sparkled as she was talking about this. Tashiniko nodded,

"Alright! Let's get to it!" Tashiniko and Piki ran out of the house, Piki more so running. She called up Aria on her phone,

"Hello?" A voice answered on the other line, tiredly,

"Hey, Aria! Look, me and Tashiniko are coming over for an impromptu band rehearsal. I made a breakthrough in songwriting and I need you all to write a part for you guys individually, so call up Alex if you can!"

"O-Oh! Alright, I'll be sure to do that. See you in a few minutes?"

"Yup! We're on our way!" The phone hung up. Tashiniko and Piki kept running to Aria's house.

**XxXxXxXx Aria's House xXxXxXxX**

Aria stretched her arms, rubbing her eyes, "Damn… having people over… thought today would be my lazy day but whatever! Let's get this house clean!" Aria looked around at her room, noticing the absolute mess that it was. She blinked, staring at the room, "Not this room!" She walked out. Aria walked into her instrument room, noticing the mess. "Dammit, why is this room so messy…" Aria quickly got to work, tidying up the room and setting up the drumset. She set up the keyboard she had for Tashiniko, and got Tashiniko's gift ready. Soon after she finished her set up, she walked to her living room, noticing that it too was a mess. She once again sighed and called Alex as she was cleaning.

"Hello, this is Alex." A deep male voice replied,

"Hey Alex! It's Aria, I-" Aria was cut off,

"Impromptu rehearsal and you need help cleaning?"

"How did you-"

"I have my ways. Coming down now." He hung up the phone. Aria was a bit confused but chuckled, continuing to clean, along with making a cup of tea for herself. Soon, her apartment door opened, Alex walking in, "Hey, Aria! I'm here!"

"Alex! Perfect! I really need your help! Piki and Tashiniko are gonna be here any second I think! We need to finish cleaning quickly!"

Alex chuckled, "Alright, alright. Let's get to it." Alex started to clean the living room, rather quickly too. Aria smiled, making some tea for her and Alex. Once she finished, she joined in on the cleaning. They finished the living room very quickly and sat down to relax for a while, waiting for Piki to walk in through the front door.

"So, Alex, how'd you get into playing drums? I don't think I've ever asked." Aria sipped her tea as she looked at Alex.

"Hmm? Oh, well, I had anger issues as a child, so my parents got me a drumset to help me release my anger. It was cheaper and more productive than anger management classes." Alex chuckled as he sipped the coffee he had brought with him. Aria's eyes widened,

"YOU had anger issues? I've known you since childhood and I never once saw you lash out at anything!"

"I kept it mostly at home, I was a little demon though, heh. That's why I broke my last drum set, I was angry so I kinda went all out on them." Alex nervously chuckled,

"I never saw you as that type of guy, honestly. But I mean, I never saw you as gay either until you told me back in middle school." Aria teased as Alex blushed a little,

"Don't remind me… it's horror enough. I got teased relentlessly, which did not help my anger. At least we're outta that school now."

"Yeah, and we got a band! So we're gonna ride to success!" Aria stood up, standing on a chair like she was on a surfboard. Alex chuckled,

"Of course we will, Aria. We're gonna need to get some gigs, not sure how hard that'll be though."

"Ah I'm sure it'll be a piece of cake! Don't we just gotta call a place and ask if we can play there?"

"Aria, I think they're supposed to call us."

"Well it should go both ways damn it! We need to get Tentacle-less Squids out there!"

"... Aria the band is called Spectrum."

"SHUT UP MY NAME WAS GOOD TOO!" Aria huffed, turning her head to the side and crossing her arms.

Alex chuckled, "Whatever you say, Aria. Whatever you say." He sipped his coffee more. Aria and Alex talked more, before they heard a knock at the door.

"The door's open!" Aria called out. The door opened, revealing Piki and Tashiniko. Piki was holding many pieces of paper,

"GUYS I STARTED A SONG!" Piki exclaimed, panting heavily. Tashiniko shook her head,

"I told her to slow down, she didn't listen…" Tashiniko gave a sigh, shaking her head.

Alex chuckled, "Reminds me of you, Aria."

"Oh shut up, Alex!" Aria huffed, crossing her arms and turning her head to the side once again. Piki put the papers she had in her hands on the coffee table. The papers had many scribbles on it, lyrics crossed out along with random letters such as B and m. On the top of one page, the words Cloud Nine are written and underlined. Aria looked over the papers, reading the lyrics on the page, "These lyrics are adorable!" Aria happily exclaimed, reading them over more and more.

"I kinda just thought of em today. I was hoping you guys would be able to come up with your parts!"

"Hell yeah! Let's improv, get this ready to go and see if we can get a gig somewhere!"

"A gig would really help Spectrum!" Tashiniko chimed in,

"So let's get crackin'! Enough waiting around!" Aria jumped from her seat and ran into the instrument room, followed by the rest. They set up all of the instruments, tuning everything. They all did their warm ups, Alex doing his stretches.

"Alright, so key of A major. Does everyone have a piece of paper to write their part on?" Piki asked, the band collectively nodded, "Alright! We're good to go!"

The band started rehearsing, stopping periodically to check everyone's parts. During their practice, there was a knock on the door. "I'm on it!" Aria cheered as she walked to the front door, still holding her bass. She opened the door, "Hello there!"

Standing there was a male inkling, somewhat dark skinned with bright green hair in a bowl cut. He was wearing a rather formal outfit, nice dress shoes, a suit complete with a tie, and very nice… sweatpants. He cleared his throat, "Hello there! Forgive me for the intrusion, but I couldn't help but hear some lovely music coming from here."

"Oh! Thank you very much! I'm Aria! Who might you be?"

"Call me Benjamin, my dear. I was wondering if it was possible for me to hear a song from you and your band?"

"Um, I'd hafta check with everyone else, but I don't think it'd be an issue. Here, follow me." Aria led Benjamin into the practice area, "So guys! We uh… have someone here who wants to listen to us practice!"

"Um… why though?" Piki asked, visibly blushing at the sight of Benjamin.

"That is of no concern. Just pretend I'm not here, dear." Benjamin smiled, sitting down somewhere.

"Um… alright then. Should we do High Tides? Get a bit of a break from this song?" Piki asked, flipping her music.

"Sounds good to me! From the top!" Aria cheered, getting in position. Alex clicked his sticks and they got on with the song, doing a full run through. Piki closed her eyes, getting really into it. Benjamin simply nodded his head to the music, tapping his arm with his finger. There was a section of the song that didn't have any background music to it, and when that part came up, Piki nailed the notes. Once the song concluded, Benjamin clapped,

"As I expected, fantastic!" Benjamin stood up from his seat, "I suppose I should explain myself more. I run a local bar around here, and when I heard your music, I figured I should see if you'd be willing to play!"

"Wait, so… are you offering us a gig?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow, twirling his drumstick in his hand,

"Yes, yes I am. Do you accept?"

"Well… do we accept, Piki?" Alex turned to Piki, who was blushing a bit,

"Wait, why me?" Piki asked, confused,

"You're the lead vocalist and guitarist, so it is kinda your band."

"I see, well… yes, we accept!" Piki smiled,

"Brilliant! What's the name of your band?"

Aria quickly chimed in, "TENT-" but before she could finish her sentence, Alex covered her mouth,

"Spectrum, we're spectrum." Alex stated,

Benjamin chuckled, "Perfect! Can you make it next week? Be there by 7 pm and you'll play sometime around 8 or 9?"

"Sounds good to us!" Piki nodded,

"Alright, I will see you then." Benjamin smiled as he walked out.

"Well… that was odd." Tashiniko stated, taking a sip of water,

"Yeah, just a little, but hey! We got a gig!" Aria cheered happily,

"Good point! Now let's finish this song!" The band kept practicing, perfecting every part so they would be ready for their gig. They wrapped their practice up once the song was finished. Tashiniko and Piki waved goodbye to Aria and Alex, leaving the house. Piki and Tashiniko made their way home together late that night, holding hands the whole way. The two first walked to Tashniko's house.

"Alright, see you tomorrow, babe?" Piki asked, looking at Tashiniko

"Mhm! I love you!" Tashiniko smiled warmly at her girlfriend

"I love you too, Tashi." Piki chuckled, giving Tashiniko a little peck on the cheek before walking away, Tashiniko entering her house. Inside of her living room, she noticed her brother, Kai, sitting on the couch,

"Kai? What are you doing up so late?" She asked, tilting her head,

"Mom and dad wanted to make sure you got home safely." He replied,

"Ah, I see."

"Also, I see my advice worked, eh?" Kai raised an eyebrow, seemingly in a teasing way,

Tashiniko blushed a bit, "Yeah, it did, heh. I'm gonna go get some sleep, have a good night, Kai." Tashiniko walked upstairs,

"Good night, baby sis!" Kai teased, chuckling a bit. He soon gave a solemn smile, and whispered to himself, "Though… I guess you're not so much of a baby anymore." He chuckled to himself, soon walking upstairs himself to get some sleep.


End file.
